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COF^KICHT DEPOSm 



RELIGION 



^ Comparative ^tuhv 



BY 



JOHN GAINES VAUGHAN 

Lawrence College, Appleton, Wis. 



Printed for the Author by 

THE ABINGDON PRESS 
CINCINNATI 



COPYRIGHT, 19 19, BY 
JOHN GAINES VAUGHAN 



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PREFACE 



f I WE author has a definite purpose in offering 

I this book to the public. He is aware that 
there are many valuable works on the sub- 
ject of Comparative Religion. He regards some of 
them as too voluminous and technical for the aver- 
age reader who is seeking an intelligent understand- 
ing of the Great Religions of the world. 

Others show unmistakable signs of having been 
"made in Germany" and as being a part of the de- 
structive higher criticism that has done harm to the 
cause of Christianity. 

Some of these volumes are admirable in every 
way, but are so condensed they do not give a gen- 
eral survey of the field. 

The present work will doubtless prove equally 
unsatisfactory to many readers, but if others get as 
much pleasure and profit from its perusal, as the 
author has in its preparation, he will be well paid. 

We have treated the subject under three general 
heads : 

I. The Science of Comparative Religion. 
II. The History of Religions. 
III. The Comparison of Religions. 

The religious idea is one and innate, but as this 
idea is expressed by different peoples it is colored by 
the medium through which it passes. A stick may 
be perfectly straight, but when stood in a pool of 

3 



PREFACE 

water the lower end looks crooked because of the 
medium through which it is viewed. If the be- 
holder views it from beneath the surface of the 
water the upper end looks crooked. 

God's revelation to man is colored by the me- 
dium through which it reaches him. In studying 
the religions of other people this general truth should 
be kept in mind, for he who denies that there is good 
in any other religion does not thereby recommend 
his own. 

It is equally important that he should not be- 
come so broad as to be shallow, and thereby have a 
creed so liberal that it is meaningless, for there are 
certain fundamental truths that forever differentiate 
Christianity from all other religions. To know one's 
mother tongue well it is necessary to know more 
than one language, and so to know one's religion in 
all its bearings it is well to know something of other 
religions, for they are all a part of the one great, in- 
nate religious idea. Lecky says: "That religious in- 
stincts are as truly a part of our nature as are our 
appetites and our nerves, is a fact which all history 
establishes and which forms one of the strongest 
proofs of the reality of the unseen world, to which 
the soul of man continually tends." 

Bagehot has well said: "The criterion of true 
beauty is with those who have a sense of true beauty ; 
the criterion of true morality is with those who have 
a sense of true morality; and the criterion of true re- 
ligion is with those who have a sense of true religion.'* 

Pragmatism teaches that the outcome of things is 
the best criterion — "that the thing is true so far as 
we can see at the present time," though later dis- 

4 



PREFACE 



coveries may show that our present truth is limited. 
This truth is as applicable to religious experience as 
to other experiences. What is before us will not con- 
tradict what is now within our reach. We know we 
are not at the end, but may be sure we are on the 
right road. J. G. V. 

Appleton, Wisconsin. 
Christmas, 1918. 



Contents 



Page 

Preface 3 

PART ONE— SCIENCE OF RELIGION 

L Comparative Religion 11 

Section 1 11 

Section II 19 

II. Comparative Religion as a Study. . 46 

1. The Origin 46 

2. The History 47 

3. The Comparison of ReHgions. ... 49 

4. Customs 52 

5. General Culture 55 

6. Psychology 57 

7. Mythology 58 

III. Monotheism 60 

IV. The God of Philosophy 67 

V. The Existence of God 88 

VI. Proofs OF THE Existence OF God .. . 101 

VII. Doubts Concerning God 116 

Thoughts Concerning God 119 

VIII. Immortality 123 

PART TWO— HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

IX. The Religion of Abraham 135 

X. The Religion of Egypt 155 

XL The Teutonic Religion 165 

7 



CONTENTS 

Page 

XII. The Religion of the Greeks 173 

XIII. The Religion of Rome 181 

XIV. Islam 189 

XV. The Bhagavad Gita 203 

XVI. Confucianism 211 

XVII. Japan, the Home of Shintoism 219 

XVIII. Taoism 236 

XIX. Brahmanism 247 

XX. Zoroaster and Parseeism 267 

XXI. Buddhism 275 

XXII. Mormonism 289 

XXIII. Christian Science 310 

XXIV. Minor Religions 321 

Babism 321 

Sikhism 323 

Sufism 325 

Jainism 326 

Fetishism 327 

Theosophy 328 

New Thought 330 

Russellismor Millennial-Dawnism.. . 332 

PART THREE— RELIGIONS IN COM- 
PARISON 

XXV. Christianity 337 

A Brief Comparison of the Christian and 

Non-Christian Religions 345 

Bibliography 361 



8 



RELIGION AS A SCIENTIFIC 
STUDY 



CHAPTER I 

Comparative Religion 

Section I 

DEAR reader, pause a moment for prayer; in 
the pages following you will be led along 
strange paths, and doubts will be raised and 
your childhood faith will be shaken and you will 
wonder if the foundation of the Christian faith is 
slipping away and the whole structure is toppling 
to a fall. Here is where many make shipwreck of 
faith, and consequently of life. This comes from the 
fact that they believe their doubts and doubt their 
beliefs and stop all investigation. A little religious 
knowledge is a dangerous thing, but he who drinks 
deeply gets life from the ever-flowing spring. 



No one can understand religion who approaches 
it from the earthward side only. The deeper truths 
of religion are known only to those who are willing 
and anxious to live them. Many pious souls who 
never heard of the gospel as preached by Jesus 
Christ have been living incarnations of these deeper 
truths, while many learned critics who have been 
born and reared in a Christian atmosphere have 
lived, philosophized, and died without coming into 
vital touch with these life-giving truths. This is not 
a plea for those who would float ignorance on piety; 
nor, on the other hand, for those who would smother 
piety by learning. 

11 



RELIGION AS A SCIENTIFIC STUDY 

Many of our nursery conceptions of the world, 
life, duty, and religion are childish. If we grow and 
develop normally, we must necessarily change our 
opinions about many things. We come to see that 
the world is not just as we thought it was, but that it 
is governed by certain natural yet inexplicable laws; 
but the fact the world is remains. Our conceptions 
of life enlarge, and life comes to have a meaning 
and outreach that we knew nothing about in child- 
hood. Its significance and sacredness grow with the 
years. As we grow the social realm widens, and we 
find in it duties, opportunities, and responsibilities 
that we knew nothing of in childhood. Religious 
ideas change, but not religious fundamentals. The 
religious realm is largely idealistic, and because of 
this fact, superstition, fancy, and mythology have 
found this field especially attractive. These foes of 
progress and civilization have been given free rein 
in the nursery, and childish fancy has filled the world 
with ghosts and hobgoblins, and given to dolls divine 
attributes. 

As the children approach maturity, it is natural 
they should have confused ideas regarding many of 
these things. As they confront the laws of progress 
and growth everywhere, they meet two classes of 
people, both sincere, but alike dangerous advisers. 
The one raises the hands in holy horror, saying, 
"What you call evolution or science or progress has 
no right to enter the sacred precincts of religion." 
The other class says, "Here are the facts of nature 
and they contradict religion, and facts are facts." 
The first tends to fanaticism in religion, and the 
other to scientific atheism. 

12 



COMPARATIVE RELIGION 

He who fails to get correct bearing at this point 
is destined to confusion that may be fatal to all his 
thinking, and eventually to his religious life. In 
meeting these problems there are several facts to be 
taken into consideration. God, who is a personal, 
self-existing Creator or first cause, is a reality, though 
inexplicable to the finite mind. This is the conclu- 
sion of unprejudiced human reason. The religious 
idea is innate in man. Plutarch said: ''You can find 
empires without thrones and thrones without em- 
perors, but no empire without altars.'* Professor 
Tiele calls this "the innate sense of infinity." Max 
Miiller speaks of the perception of the Infinite, and 
afhrms that the source of religion is the yearning of 
the soul after God. Professor Herder sees in rites 
and ceremonies the natural expression of the innate 
recognition of God. These authorities are simply 
recognizing the fact that religion is a note of the 
human race. This is not denying the fact that there 
are persons who have no religious tendencies, just as 
there are persons who are destitute of natural affec- 
tion. These abnormal persons do not disprove gen- 
eral tendencies that go to show man is naturally 
religious and affectionate. 

There is a school of writers who trace all religions 
to naturalistic causes. They begin with fetishism as 
the lowest form of religion and work up gradually to 
monotheism. To them the religious idea is merely 
the outgrowth of superstitious fear. Unfortunately 
for them and their theory, facts, experience, revela- 
tion, philosophy, and the voice of the race are against 
them. Their theory breaks down in the presence of 
well-established facts, proves nothing, and fails in 

13 



RELIGION AS A SCIENTIFIC STUDY 

every attempt to explain religious phenomena. At 
first thought, It seems strange that many writers on 
Comparative Religion have been either atheistic or 
at least non-Christian. The denial of God and op- 
position to the Christian ideal is explained by the 
Psalmist as originating in the heart rather than In 
the head (Psalm 14). There are people who would 
do away with law because they do not like Its re- 
straints, just as there are people who would do away 
with God in order to get rid of His sovereignty. 
This naturalistic school should explain to the world 
why it is, if time and evolution are all that is neces- 
sary to provide religion, that animals show no re- 
ligious tendency. 

Some writers claim that religion Is from re-legere, 
meaning to read over, or an opinion formed from 
what one has read. Others say religion is from re- 
ligarey meaning to bind back, or to restore the soul 
to its original friendship with God. The first defi- 
nition emphasizes religion as creed, the latter as life. 
True religion is neither the one nor the other, but 
both. Creed has its place, and life its place, but 
real religion is the life of God in the soul of man. 
Each person will interpret God according to his own 
personality, and his experience will be peculiar to 
his personality. Voltaire defined the theist thus: 
"One who says to God, T worship and serve Thee,' 
and to mankind, T love you.' " True religion makes 
one tolerant of the beliefs of others In so far as they 
are not destructive of fundamental principles. 



The final authority In religious matters is not in 
an infallible book or in the Church, but rather in 

14 



COMPARATIVE RELIGION 

belief, for a belief is true that makes for the better- 
ment of the human race — that lifts one above him- 
self and broadens and betters his life-4-that fills life 



with the ripened fruits of righteousness. CA belief 
that can thus reach out to the unseen realm and 
bring into life such blessings, must be true. Our 
lives are molded by our beliefs, and we are putting 
into practice what we believe. It is still true that, 
f'As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he."' Man 
is what he thinks. Acts spring from hidden seeds of 
thought, so man is made or unmade by himself, for 
he holds the key to every situation.] The thoughts 
we built into character yesterday made us what we 
are to-day, and to-morrow will be the result of the 
thoughts of to-day. (The soul attracts that which it 
secretly harbors. Men attract what they are and 
not what they want, j Good thoughts never produce 
bad results. The body is somewhat the servant of 
the mind. Disease and health come largely from the 
mind. This is the one truth that saves Christian 
Science from being a meaningless jumble. If you 
would perfect your body, guard your mind. Clean, 
cheerful thoughts will do for the life ^yhat fresh air 
and sunlight will do for a foul room./ The achieve- 
ments of life rest on thought factors. "Where there 
is no vision, the people perish." The so-called dreamer 
gets a thought or vision and goes forth to visualize 
it, and the result is achievements, reforms, and revo- 
lutions. The secret of happiness is in choosing an 
ideal and focussing life on or around it. 



Comparative Religion is, or should be, the very 
center of Christian Apologetics. No one is prepared 

15 



RELIGION AS A SCIENTIFIC STUDY 

to discuss intelligently that vital topic in Christian 
theology till he has studied the origin and history of 
the great religions of the human race. A knowledge 
of this subject embraces topics of the most profound 
interest to every thoughtful human being. The 
subjects are as varied as they are profound. They 
deal with philology, philosophy, psychology, history, 
literature, art, geography, mythology, architecture, 
etc. We cannot understand the social, intellectual, 
and religious life of people without knowing some- 
thing of their relation to these things. There is not 
a subject in the college curriculum that opens a 
wider field for cultural training. A student may be 
versed in some sciences and know but little or noth- 
ing of others, but the student of Comparative Re- 
ligion must know something of many contributory 
subjects or sciences. 



The study of religion is so systematized that we 
speak of the scientific study of Comparative Religion. 
If "Three-fourths of science is method," then Com- 
parative Religion is rightly called a science, for every 
phase of heathen religion has been subjected to care- 
ful analysis, and to a study of the subjects mentioned 
above as they are related to heathen life. This study 
has been greatly hindered by a lack of a suitable 
text-book. Such a book would doubtless have been 
prepared but for lack of adequate data. Within the 
past fifty years so much information has been gath- 
ered on this subject that lack of data is no longer 
a valid excuse. The missionaries have done more 
than any other class of people to acquaint us with 
the real conditions in the heathen world. They live 

16 



COMPARATIVE RELIGION 

among the people and are generally intelligent and 
sympathetic, and are consequently able to get into 
the heart life of the people. They have brought to 
civilization a wealth of information that has opened 
up the study of the social, intellectual, and religious 
life of these heathen people. Education and science 
and religion owe to these people a debt of gratitude 
for information they have gathered that could not 
have been gotten in any other way. 

The study of Comparative Religion has forced a 
recognition of the universality of religion. One can- 
not know his own religion thoroughly till he knows 
something of other religions, just as one cannot know 
his own language thoroughly without knowing some- 
thing of other languages. God has not left himself 
without a witness in the world. Tennyson quotes 
approvingly an inscription that appears on a temple 
in Kashmier which says, ''O God, in every temple I 
see people who see Thee, and in every language I hear 
spoken, people praise Thee." There are fundamental 
agreements in all religions, such as a recognition of 
God, future existence, sin, punishment, etc. The 
gods of heathenism are reflections of the passions of 
the people. People never rise higher than their gods. 
We attribute to God our own thoughts, and our 
lives are influenced by the character we give Him. 
If we would be fair to these heathen religions, we 
must judge them by their virtues and not their ex- 
crescences. We would want them to judge Chris- 
tianity in the same way. 

Comparative Religion is referred to by different 
designations such as Hierology, Science of Religion, 

17 



RELIGION AS A SCIENTIFIC STUDY 

Comparative Theology, etc. They all agree in 
treating the religious idea as a unit. In this dis- 
cussion we shall use the term Comparative Re- 
ligion and treat the religious concept as a unit, and 
when we speak of the religions of the different peo- 
ples, we shall regard them as springing from the 
universal religious concept. As to the origin of this 
concept — the religious idea or religion in its larger 
sense — ^we know nothing more than we know of the 
origin of language. "Thou, O God, hast created us 
for Thyself, therefore our hearts are restless till they 
find rest in Thee." — St. Augustine. God solves the 
world-riddle of is and ought. 



The moral consciousness of the race rises and falls 
with religious beliefs. All moral conduct has its 
basis in religious faith and rites. He who ignores 
God and religion, repudiates the only foundation on 
which a moral life can rest. Some moral people who 
have ignored God and religion are unconsciously 
controlled and influenced by the religious sentiment 
that has permeated and molded society. Among 
heathen people it is a common thing to find rites and 
ceremonies rigidly observed where there is no moral 
consciousness. Some heathen people think it is 
natural that people from other countries should have 
different religions and moral standards just as they 
have different clothes, and they are consequently 
tolerant toward other religions — are willing to ac- 
cept Christ as one of their gods and Christianity as 
one of their religions, provided it be understood the 
acceptance places them under no obligations to change 

18 



COMPARATIVE RELIGION 

their lives or conform to the moral standards of 
Christianity. 

The weakness of Roman Catholic Christianity in 
the mission fields has been the acceptance of this 
heathen standard, by simply receiving the unre- 
generated heathen into the Church and allowing 
them to adhere to their old way of living and con- 
form to the same corrupt lives. The heathen have 
regarded Romanism as one of the religions of the 
country. True Christianity has always insisted that 
it is the religion and that its standards only are cor- 
rect, that it contains all that is good and true in the 
other religions. If this is a correct statement of the 
fact, it should not be regarded as intolerant. This 
attitude has led to the persecution of Christianity 
from the first. Chr istianity can make no compromise 
on this point without surrendering its claim. 

In the ages to come the religion that best meets 
human needs will triumph in the world and rule in 
the hearts and lives of men. ■, What will be the result 
if some religion come to the fore that meets these 
conditions better than Christianity does? It will by 
that triumph become essential Christianity and, 
therefore, take its place. The influence that does 
most to lift this world back to God by that achieve- 
ment becomes the true religion. 

Section II 

The Science of Comparative Religion is a new 
science and does not date back more than fifty years. 
The subject is an old one, but not until recently has 
it assumed such definite form and importance as to 

19 



RELIGION AS A SCIENTIFIC STUDY 

be classed as a science. More definite information 
on this subject has been gathered, classified, and 
put into definite literary form during the past fifty 
years than during the preceding eighteen hundred 
years. 

The great missionary movement of the Christian 
Church has been developed during the past half cen- 
tury. Modes of travel and communication have so 
improved during this period as to bring distant parts 
of the earth together and make this world one vast 
whispering gallery. The steam engine, the printing 
press, and telegraphy have wrought wonders of 
which our forefathers never dreamed. These have 
been highly useful in gathering and disseminating in- 
formation about the religions of various peoples. 
During this period Daniel's prophecy has been ful- 
filled, for "many have run to and fro and knowledge 
has been increased." (Daniel 12. 4.) This period has 
been especially marked by travel and research as 
well as by missionary effort. 

Men of large means have shown their interest in 
religion by bearing the expense and encouraging spe- 
cialists to make excavations, explorations, and orig- 
inal research in foreign lands that might throw some 
light on religion. These efforts have been rewarded 
beyond their most sanguine expectations. In Bible 
lands it seemed at times that almost every turn of 
the spade brought confirmatory evidence of the 
truthfulness of the Bible statements. In other parts 
of the world equally definite information has been 
gained concerning the origin and history of non- 
Christian religions. Some of this valuable work was 
accomplished by people who were not experts, and 

20 



COMPARATIVE RELIGION 

the data they gathered needed to be carefully sifted. 
Some missionaries have been so narrow in their views 
that they were utterly unable to appreciate the good 
points in the religion of the people among whom they 
labored. These processes have gone forward till at 
the present time books filled with valuable informa- 
tion are literally pouring from the printing press. 
There is no longer an excuse for ignorance on this 
vital subject. The early attempts to study these 
subjects were crude, but not unlike early efforts in 
most fields. 



The Apostles and Church Fathers had but little 
knowledge of the religions of their day. They held 
narrow views which prevented them from making a 
study of any religion save Christianity. To them all 
other religions were false and the followers were 
doomed. The Greek philosophers of the same 
period were the preachers of the day. They dis- 
coursed on ethics and religion, but their views often 
lacked clarity and definiteness, and as a result they 
did not contribute much that was valuable to the 
study of religion. Roger Bacon, who lived in the 
thirteenth century, was the first great scholar to in- 
sist that all intelligent people should acquaint them- 
selves with the religions of mankind. He attempted 
to show that religion was too much hampered by 
authority, custom, prejudice, and conceit. He 
treated religion under the following heads: Fetish- 
ism, Idolaters, Tartars, Mohammedans, Jews, and 
Christians. His treatment of these religions showed 
that he lacked both insight and sympathy, and was 
thereby unfitted for a proper understanding and dis- 

21 



RELIGION AS A SCIENTIFIC STUDY 

cussion of these subjects. He had great sympathy 
with the astrologers and alchemists of his day. 



The first Parliament of Religions was held at 
Kara Korum in Tartary in the thirteenth century. 
One of the rules adopted for the government of this 
Parliament was that any person who spoke disre- 
spectfully of a faith differing from his own should 
suffer instant death. The probability is that they 
had harmony at least. At Agra, India, stands the 
tomb of Akbar, the great Mogul emperor. Near 
this tomb, which deserves a place among the wonders 
of the world, are the tombs of five of his wives. The 
story is that he married a Jewess, a Mohammedan, 
a Brahman, a Zoroastran, and a Christian that he 
might study the effect of these different religions at 
short range. It is known that he gathered all the 
sacred books he could command and had them trans- 
lated for his private library. In 1575 at a conference 
held in his palace he announced his faith that Islam 
was not the only religion and that many good and 
wise people held to other religions. This renunci- 
ation subjected him to bitter persecution. During 
the latter half of the last century many distinguished 
scholars contributed to the subject of Comparative 
Religion, and so organized the information that had 
been gathered by others that the subject came to be 
recognized as a science. The more prominent writers 
were Dr. Max M tiller of Oxford, England, Professors 
Tiele of Leyden, and Reville of Paris. 

Dr. Mtiller deserved more honor than his modesty 
would permit him to claim. He edited the Rig 
Veda, the sacred book of the East, in fifty volumes; 

22 



COMPARATIVE RELIGION 

wrote a very suggestive work, "Comparative My- 
thology," and delivered many university lectures. He 
gave great inspiration to the Parliament of Religions 
that met in Chicago in 1893. He paid the price due 
to his prominence, for many mediocre men seemed 
to take great delight in finding fault with his methods 
and conclusions. When he passed to his reward in 
1900 he was generally regarded as the best authority 
on Comparative Religion. This recognition was 
freely accorded him by such men as W. Robertson 
Smith, Andrew M. Fairbain, Cornelius P. Tiele, Dr. 
Saussaye, and men of like caliber. 

America has made large contribution to the sub- 
ject of Comparative Religion. The history of this 
subject cannot be written without giving a promi- 
nent place to such men as James Freeman Clark, 
C. H. Toy, F. F. Ellingwood, W. F. Warren, L. H. 
Jordan, J. H. Barrows, D. J. Burrell, George F. 
Moore, George H. Trever, and many others. No 
student of Comparative Religion should be satisfied 
till he is reasonably familiar with the writings of these 
authors. The one event that brought the subject of 
Comparative Religion to the front and literally 
forced it on the attention of the world was the Par- 
liament of Religions held in Chicago in connection 
with the World's Fair in 1893. This exposition was 
the most comprehensive display of man's progress 
that the world had seen up to that time. More than 
fifty nations took part in the exposition. It was 
preeminently proper that religion which had done so 
much to advance the world's progress should have a 
prominent place and be viewed in a broad way in 
connection with this great enterprise. 

23 



RELIGION AS A SCIENTIFIC STUDY 

Our little systems have their day; 

They have their day and cease to be, 

They are but broken lights of Thee; 
And Thou, O Lord, art more than they. 

The purpose of the Parliament was expressed by the 
Religions Committee as follows: 

"Believing that God is, and that He has not left 
Himself without witness; believing that the influence 
of Religion tends to advance the general welfare, and 
is the most vital force in the social order of every 
people, and convinced that of a truth God is no 
respecter of persons, but that in every nation he that 
feareth Him and worketh righteousness is accepted of 
Him, we afi^ectionately invite the representatives of 
all faiths to aid us in presenting to the world, at the 
Exposition of 1893, the religious harmonies and 
unities of humanity, and also in showing forth the 
moral and spiritual agencies which are at the root of 
human progress. It is proposed to consider the 
foundations of religious Faith, to review the triumphs 
of Religion in all ages, to set forth the present state 
of Religion among the nations and its influence over 
Literature, Art, Commerce, Government, and the 
Family Life; to indicate its power in promoting 
Temperance and Social Purity and its harmony with 
true Science; to show its dominance in the higher 
institutions of learning; to make prominent the value 
of the weekly rest-day on religious and other grounds, 
and to contribute to those forces which shall bring 
about the unity of the race in the worship of God 
and the service of man." 

The special objects to be attained were: 

1. To bring together in conference, for the first 
time in history, the leading representatives of the 
great Historic Religions of the world. 

24 



COMPARATIVE RELIGION 

2. To show to men, In the most impressive way, 
what and how many important truths the various 
ReHgions hold and teach in common. 

3. To promote and deepen the spirit of human 
brotherhood among religious men of diverse faiths, 
through friendly conference and mutual good under- 
standing, while not seeking to foster the temper of 
indifferentism, and not striving to achieve any formal 
and outward unity. 

4. To set forth, by those most competent to 
speak, what are deemed the important distinctive 
truths held and taught by each Religion, and by the 
various chief branches of Christendom. 

5. To indicate the impregnable foundations of 
Theism, and the reasons for man's faith in Immor- 
tality, and thus to unite and strengthen the forces 
which are adverse to a materialistic philosophy of 
the universe. 

6. To secure from leading scholars, representing 
the Brahman, Buddhist, Confucian, Parsee, Moham- 
medan, Jewish, and other Faiths, and from repre- 
sentatives of the various Churches of Christendom, 
full and accurate statements of the spiritual and 
other effects of the Religions which they hold upon 
the Literature, Art, Commerce, Government, Do- 
mestic, and Social life of the peoples among whom 
these Faiths have prevailed. 

7. To inquire what light each Religion has 
afforded, or may afford, to the other Religions of 
the world. 

8. To set forth, for permanent record to be pub- 
lished to the world, an accurate and authoritative 
account of the present condition and outlook of 
Religion among the leading nations of the earth. 

9. To discover, from competent men, what light 
Religion has to throw on the great problems of the 
present age, especially the important questions con- 
nected with Temperance, Labor, Education, Wealth, 
and Poverty. 

25 



RELIGION AS A SCIENTIFIC STUDY 

10. To bring the nations of the earth into a 
more friendly fellowship, in the hope of securing 
permanent international peace. 

Prominent leaders of all religions in all parts of 
the world took part in the Parliament and expressed 
catholic views, but, sad to admit, many of these 
people returned to their homes and were as narrow, 
bigoted, and undemocratic as before. 

The leading spirit of the Parliament was Dr. J. 
Henry Burrows, of Chicago, who printed the ad- 
dresses in two volumes, "The World's Parliament of 
Religions." This work is an invaluable thesaurus of 
information for the student of religions. The ad- 
dresses made and papers submitted were by the 
ablest men that represented the different religions, 
denominations, Churches, creeds, and cults. They 
were up-to-date, forcible statements of their best 
thought. Tennyson's words properly represented 
the essence of their conclusions: 

The whole world is everywhere 

Bound by gold chains about the feet of God. 

The tolerant and liberal spirit of the gathering was 
voiced in the following poem, contributed by Laura 
O. Chant: 

The New World's call hath summoned men to prayer: 

And swift across the ocean's path of foam, 
Along the mountain-tracks, or desert's glare, 
Or down the old-world valleys, they have come. 
O golden, olden East! 
Right welcome to the feast. 
The New World welcomes you 
In the most holy name of God, 
The New World welcomes you. 

26 



COMPARATIVE RELIGION 

The New World's call hath summoned men to prayer: 

All Christendom hath felt her great heart beat, 
And Europe's messengers from everywhere 
Still wake the echoes with their coming feet. 
O, Mussulman and Greek! 
The glad New World doth seek 
With Christian and with Jew 
In the most holy name of God, 
To love and welcome you. 

The New World's call hath summoned men to prayer: 

And Africa hath heard the call and cried 
To her most noble sons to haste and share 
The brotherhood of worship side by side. 
O, heirs of liberty! 
Dear Negro brothers, ye, 
At last at one with you, 
In the most holy name of God, 
The New World welcomes you. 

For all the creeds of men have come to praise. 

And kneel and worship at the great white throne 
Of God, the Father of us all, and raise 

The all-world's prayer to Him, the Great Alone. 
O creeds, whate'er ye be! 
The Truth shall make you free. 
And be ye old or new. 
In the most holy name of God 
The New World welcomes you. 

Let Moses still be reverenced, and the name 

Of Buddha fill his worshipers with awe. 
Still let Mohammed from his people claim 

A sober life and conduct as before. 
Yet nought of outlook shall be sacrificed 

By which man doth his soul's horizon scan, 
For over all the creeds the face of Christ 

Glows with white glory on the face of man. 



27 



RELIGION AS A SCIENTIFIC STUDY - 

And all the symbols human tears have stained, 

And every path of prayer man's feet have trod, 
Have nearer knowledge of the Father gained 
For back of soul and symbol standeth God. 

In fullness of the time, 

From every creed and clime, 

The New World and the Old 

Pray in the age of Gold, 
In one vast host on bended knee 

The Old and New, in unity 

Of Truth's Eternal good 

To East and West forever given, 

Proclaim in sight of Heaven, 

In the most holy name of God, 

Immortal Brotherhood. 

Whittier voiced the same sentiment when he 
said: 

Wherever through the ages rise 
The altars of self-sacrifice — 
Where love its arms hath opened wide. 
Or man for man has calmly died, 
I see the same white wings outspread 
That hovered o'er the Master's head; 
I trace His presence in the blind 
Pathetic groping of my kind — 
In prayers from sin and sorrow wrung, 
In cradle hymns of life they sung, 
Each, in its measure, but a part 
Of the unmeasured Over-heart; 
And with a stronger faith confess 
The greater — that it owns the less! 

Professor Miiller said in a paper sent to the Par- 
liament, "All religions are natural; there was a pur- 
pose in the ancient religions and philosophies of the 
world; Christianity was built upon these, from ma- 
terials as to its form and substance, furnished by 

28 



COMPARATIVE RELIGION 

them, was in fact a synthesis of the best thoughts of 
the past, as they had been slowly elaborated by the 
leading peoples of the human race, the Aryan and 
the Semitic." 

Mr. Higginson went a step farther when he said: 

"The first Parliament of Religions in this country 
may be said to have been simultaneous with the 
nation's birth. When, in 1788, the Constitution of 
the United States was adopted, and a commemorative 
procession of five thousand people took place in 
Philadelphia, then the seat of government, a place 
in the triumphal march was assigned to the clergy; 
and the Jewish rabbi of the city walked between two 
Christian ministers, to show that the new republic 
was founded on religious toleration. It seems strange 
that no historical painter, up to this time, has selected 
for his theme that fine incident. It should have been 
perpetuated in art, like the Landing of the Pilgrims, 
or Washington crossing the Delaware. And side by 
side with it might well be painted the twin event 
which occurred nearly a hundred years later in a 
Mohammedan country, when in 1875, Ismail Pasha, 
then Khedive of Egypt, celebrating by a procession 
of two hundred thousand people the obsequies of his 
beloved and only daughter, placed the Mohammedan 
priests and Christian missionaries together in the 
procession, on the avowed ground that they served 
the same God, and that he desired for his daughter's 
soul the prayers of all." 

Professor John Gmeiner in his closing address 
made the following suggestive summary: 

''I. As there was originally but one human 
family, so there was but one primitive religion. 
When did man first receive this religion? At the very 
instant when the Creator breathed into him the 

29 



RELIGION AS A SCIENTIFIC STUDY 

immortal soul, the germ of religion was implanted in 
his inmost nature. The great naturalist, A. De 
Quatrefages, declares on this point: 'The result of 
my investigation is exactly the opposite of that at 
which Sir John Lubbock and M. St. Hilaire have 
arrived. Obliged, in my course of instruction, to 
review all human races, I have sought atheism in 
the lowest as well as in the highest. We nowhere 
meet with atheism except in an erratic condition. In 
every place and at all times, the mass of population 
have escaped it; we nowhere find either a great 
human race, or even a division however unimportant 
of that race, professing atheism. I have proceeded 
and formed my conclusions — exclusively as a natural- 
ist, whose chief aim is to seek for and state /ac/5.' 

"We reject the unfounded assumption that the 
religious faculty of man has been gradually evolved 
from some animal faculties, but maintain that, like 
reason itself, of which it is the complement, it was a 
primitive gift of his Creator. Besides, we have 
reason to believe, not only on the authority of the 
inspired books, but also from reliable historical data, 
that the primitive human family were not only 
endowed with the religious faculty, but that they 
had also received particular revelations from their 
Creator, the acquisition of which transcended the 
abilities of their merely natural faculties. 

"II. How was this primitive religious union of 
the human family lost? With the gradual numerical 
increase of mankind, it became necessary that tribe 
after tribe separate itself to an independent existence. 
The conception of God became gradually obscured 
or distorted by the gradually changing general 
mental conceptions of these various tribes. To the 
same God often different names were given, and 
gradually the different names were considered to 
denote different gods. God was often honored under 
different symbols. With this fundamental belief in 
God, also other religious beliefs, for instance, con- 

30 



COMPARATIVE RELIGION 

cerning prayer, sacrifice, or the state of immortality, 
were gradually changed and vitiated. Yet in the 
midst of the chaos of polytheism and idolatry, the 
precious germs of religion, the belief in the existence 
of invisible superior beings, their active interest in 
the affairs of men, the voice of conscience admonish- 
ing to do right and to shun wrong, and the conviction 
of immortality still remained indestructible in every 
human soul. We may pity and deplore many im- 
proper manifestations of these religious sentiments, 
but the sentiments themselves we must profoundly 
respect as a gift of God even in the lowest savage or 
fetish worshiper. 

"III. But God's fatherly hand is already leading 
his once-separated children together. A unification 
of the human family is going on, the rapidity and ex- 
tent of which, even a hundred years ago, no mortal 
would have dreamed of. Yet one great achievement 
remains to be accomplished, namely, to crown the 
work of the unification of the human family with the 
heaven-given blessings of religious unity. 

"The one universal religion, to fulfill its mission, 
must be endowed with the following characteristics: 

"1. It must be true; that is, in full harmony with 
itself and the entire universe, the Creator and all His 
works. 

"2. It must welcome and tend to assimilate as 
coming from God all that is really true, good, and 
beautiful, wherever found; in nature, in art, in science, 
in philosophy; and in human culture, civilization, and 
progress. 

"3. It must satisfy all the nobler, higher aspira- 
tions implanted by God in the soul of man. 

"4. It must be provided with such credentials 
as will satisfy intelligent men that it is indeed the one 
true religion of God. 

"What can and should we all do toward promot- 
ing religious union among ourselves? Keeping in 
mind that the one true religion must be God-given, 

31 



RELIGION AS A SCIENTIFIC STUDY 

as frail human reason has proved itself throughout 
human history as utterly incompetent to produce any 
religion which can satisfy mankind, we must seek 
devoutly and earnestly for the religion which alone 
has all the characteristics which the one true religion 
of mankind must have. With the gradual disap- 
pearance of the mists and clouds of prejudices, igno- 
rances, and antipathies, there will be always more 
clearly seen the heavenly, majestic outlines of that 
house of God, prepared on the top of the mountains 
for all to see, into which, as Isaiah foretold, 'all na- 
tions shall flow,' and countless many on entering will 
be surprised how it was possible that they had no 
sooner recognized this true home for all under God, 
in which they so often professed to believe when 
they reverently called it by its Providentially-given 
and preserved name, known all over the world — 
The Holy Catholic Church.' " 

Henry Drummond spoke on Evolution and Chris- 
tianity as follows: 

"No more fit theme could be chosen for discussion 
at this Congress than the relation of Christianity and 
evolution. Evolution — and by that I do not mean 
Darwinism, which is not yet proved, nor Spencer- 
ianism, which is incomplete, nor Weismannism, which 
is in the hottest fires of criticism — but evolution as a 
great category of thought is the supreme word of the 
nineteenth century. More than that, it is the greatest 
generalization the world has ever known. 

"The mere presence of this doctrine in science 
has reacted as by an electric induction on every sur- 
rounding circle of thought. Whether we like it or 
not, whether we shun the change, or court it, or dread 
it, it has come, and we must set ourselves to meet it. 
No truth now can remain unaffected by evolution. 
We can no longer take out a doctrine in this century 
or in that, bottle it like a vintage, and store it in our 

2>2 



COMPARATIVE RELIGION 

creeds. We see truth now as a profound ocean still, 
but with a slow and ever-rising tide. Theology must 
reckon with this tide. We can store this truth in our 
vessels, for the formulation of doctrine must never 
stop; but the vessels, with their mouths open, must 
remain in the ocean. If we take them out the tide 
cannot rise in them, and we shall only have stagnant 
doctrines rotting in a dead theology. 

"To the student of God's ways, who reverently 
marks his progressive revelation and scans the 
horizon for each new fulfillment, the field of science 
under the influence of this great doctrine presents just 
now a spectacle of bewildering interest. To say that 
he regards it with expectation is feebly to realize the 
dignity and import of the time. He looks at science 
with awe. It is the thing that is moving, unfolding. 
It is the breaking of a fresh seal. It is the new chapter 
of the world's history. What it contains for Chris- 
tianity, or against it, he knows not. What it will do, 
or undo — for in the fulfilling it may undo — he cannot 
tell. The plot is just at its thickest as he opens the 
page; the problems are more in number and more 
intricate than they have ever been before, and he 
waits almost with excitement for the next develop- 
ment. 

"And yet this attitude of Christianity towards 
science is as free from false hope as it is from false 
fear. It has no false fear, for it knows the strange 
fact that this plot is always at its thickest; and its 
hope of a quick solution is without extravagance, for 
it has learned the slowness of God's unfolding and 
his patient tempering of revelation to the young 
world which has to bear the strain. But for all this, 
we cannot open this new and closely-written page as 
if it had little to give us. With nature as God's 
work; with man, God's finest instrument, as its in- 
vestigator; with a multitude of the finest of these 
fine instruments, in laboratory, field, and study, 
hourly engaged upon this book, exploring, decipher- 

» 33 



RELIGION AS A SCIENTIFIC STUDY 

ing, sifting, and verifying, it is impossible that there 
should not be a solid, original, and ever-increasing 
gain. 

"The idea of gain for religion to be made out of 
its relations with science is almost a new thing. Its 
realization with whatever partial success is by far the 
most striking feature of the present situation. The 
intercourse between these two, until very recently, 
was remote, suspicious, and strained. After the first 
great quarrel — for they began the centuries hand in 
hand — the question of religion to science was the per- 
emptory one: 'How dare you speak at all?' Then as 
science held to its right to speak, the question be- 
came more pungent: 'What new menace to our creed 
does your latest discovery portend?' By and by 
both grew wiser and the coarser conflict ceased. For 
a time we find religion suggesting a compromise and 
asking simply what particular adjustments to its 
latest hypothesis science would demand. But all that 
is changed. We do not now speak of the right to be 
heard, or of menaces to our faith, or even of com- 
promises. Our question is a maturer one — we ask 
what contribution science has to bestow; what good 
gift the Wise Men are bringing now to lay at the feet 
of our Christ. 

"To survey the field, therefore, for the mere pur- 
pose of celebrating the triumphs of religion and 
science is, let us hope, an extinct method. True science 
is as much a care of true theology as any branch of 
truth, and if it is necessary for a few moments to 
approach the subject partly in an apologetic attitude, 
the final object is to show, not how certain old theo- 
logical conceptions have saved their skins in recent 
conflicts, but that they have come out of the struggle 
enriched, purified, and enlarged. 

"I. The first fact to be registered is that evolu- 
tion has swept over the doctrine of creation, and left 
it untouched, except for the better. The stages in 
the advance here are easily noted. Working in its 

34 



COMPARATIVE RELIGION 

own field, science made the discovery of how God 
made the world. To science itself this discovery was 
startling and unexpected, as it has ever been to 
theology. Exactly fifty years ago Mr. Darwin wrote 
in dismay to Hooker that the old theory of specific 
creation — that God made all species apart and in- 
troduced them into the world one by one — was 
melting away before his eyes. He unburdens the 
thought, as he says in his letter, almost 'as if he were 
confessing a murder.' But so entirely has the world 
bowed to the weight of the facts before which even 
Darwin trembled, that one of the last books on 
Darwinism, by so religious a mind as that of Mr. 
Alfred Russell Wallace, contains in its opening chap- 
ter these words: 'The whole scientific and literary 
world, even the whole educated public, accept as a 
matter of common knowledge the origin of species 
from other allied species, by the ordinary process of 
natural birth. The idea of special creation, or any 
other exceptional mode of production, is absolutely 
extinct.' Theology, after a period of hesitation, ac- 
cepted this version on the whole. The hesitation 
was not due, as is often supposed, to prejudice. 
What theology waited for was what science itself was 
waiting for — the arrival of proof. 

''That the doctrine of evolution is proved yet, 
no one will assert. That in some of its forms it is 
never likely to be proved, many are even convinced. 
It will be time for theology to be unanimous about 
it when science is unanimous about it. Yet it would 
be idle not to record the fact that in a general form it 
has received the widest assent from modern theology. 
And there is nothing here but gain. If science is sat- 
isfied, even in a general way, with its theory of 
evolution as the method of creation, 'assent' is a 
cold word with which those whose business it is to 
know and love the ways of God should welcome it. 
It is needless at this time of day to point out the 
surpassing grandeur of the new conception. How it 

35 



RELIGION AS A SCIENTIFIC STUDY 

has filled Christian imagination and kindled to en- 
thusiasm the soberest scientific minds from Darwin 
downwards is known to every one. For that splendid 
hypothesis we cannot be too grateful to science; 
and that theology can only enrich itself which gives it 
even temporary place in its doctrine of creation. 
The theory of evolution fills a gap at the very begin- 
ning of our religion; and no one who looks now at 
the transcendent spectacle of the world's past as 
disclosed by science, will deny that it has filled it 
worthily. Yet, after all, its beauty is not the part of 
its contribution to Christianity which one empha- 
sizes here. Scientific theology required a new view, 
though it did not require it to come in so magnificent 
a form. What it needed was a credible presentation, 
in view especially of astronomy, geology, paleontology, 
and biology. These, as we have said, had made the 
former theory simply untenable. And science has 
supplied theology with a theory which the intellect 
can accept, and which for the devout mind leaves 
everything more worthy of worship than before. 

'As to the time-honored question of the relation 
of that theory to the Book of Genesis, it may surely 
be said that theology has now no longer any dififi- 
culty. The long and interesting era of the 'recon- 
cilers' is to be looked upon as past. That was a 
necessary era. With the older views of revelation 
there was no alternative but to harmonize the Mosaic 
cosmogany with paleontology. And no more gallant 
or able attempts were ever made to bridge an ap- 
parently serious gulf than were the 'Reconciliations' 
of Hugh Miller and Chalmers, of Kurtz and Guyot, 
and the band of brilliant men who spent themselves 
over this great apology. But the solution, v/hen it 
came, reached us from quite another quarter. 

"For, wholly apart from this problem, theology 
meantime was advancing in new directions. The 
science of Biblical criticism was born. The doctrine 
of evolution, casting its transforming light over every 

36 



COMPARATIVE RELIGION 

branch of knowledge, came In time to be applied to 
the literature and doctrine of the Old Testament. 
Under the new light the problem of the reconcilia- 
tion of Genesis and science disappeared. The two 
things lay in different regions, no bridge was necessary, 
and none was called for. Genesis was not a scientific 
but a religious book, and there being no science there, 
for theologians to put it there, or 'reconcile' as if it 
were there, was seen to be a mistake. This new posi- 
tion is as impregnable as it is final. Genesis is a pres- 
entation of one or two great elementary truths to 
the childhood of the world. It can only be read 
aright in the spirit in which it was written, with its 
original purpose in view and Its original audience. 
Dating from the childhood of the world, written for 
children, and for that child-spirit in man which re- 
mains unchanged by time, it takes color and shape 
accordingly. Its object is purely religious, the point 
being not how certain things were made — which is a 
question for science which the revealer of truth has 
everywhere left to science — but that God made them. 
It is not dedicated to science, but to the soul. It is a 
sublime theology, a hymn of creation, given in view 
of idolatry or polytheism, telling the worshipful youth 
of the earth that the heavens and the earth and every 
flying and creeping thing were made by God. 

"This conclusion, and it cannot be too widely 
asserted, is now a commonplace with scientific 
theology. The misfortune is that, with the broken 
state of the churches, there is no one to announce in 
the name of theology that this controversy is at an 
end. The theological world needs nothing so much 
just now a.s a clearing house, a register office, a some- 
thing akin to the ancient councils, where the legiti- 
mate gains of theological science may be registered, 
the new advances chronicled, popular errors exploded, 
and authoritative announcements made of the exact 
position of affairs. The waste of time both to friends 
and foes — to friends in laboriously proving what is 

37 



RELIGION AS A SCIENTIFIC STUDY 

settled, to foes in ingloriously slaying the slain — is a 
serious hindrance to the progress of truth ; and should 
any council have dealt with this controversy, let us 
say, as a British Association with Bathybius, the re- 
ligious world would be spared such paltry spectacles 
as Mr. Huxley annihilating Mr. Gladstone, in the 
presence of a blaspheming enemy, over a problem 
which, to real theology, is non-existent. Probably 
nine-tenths of the 'modern attacks' upon religion 
from the side of science are assaults upon positions 
which theological science has itself discredited, but 
whose disclaimers, for want of a suitable platform to 
announce them from, have not been heard. 

"II. Evolution has swept over the church's con- 
ception of origins and left it also untouched except 
for the better. The method of creation is one thing, 
the question of origins is another. There is only one 
theory of the method of creation in the field, and that 
is evolution; but there is only one theory of origins 
in the field, and that is creation. Instead of abolish- 
ing a creative hand, in short, as is sometimes sup- 
posed, evolution demands it. All that Mr. Darwin 
worked at was the origin of species; he discovered 
nothing new, and professed to know nothing new, 
about the origin of either matter or of life. Nothing 
is more ignorant than the attempt to pit evolution 
or natural law against creation, as if the one excluded 
the other. The Christian apologist who tried to 
refute objections founded upon the supposed an- 
tagonism is engaged in a wholly superfluous task. 
Evolution, instead of being opposed to creation, 
assumes creation. Law is not the cause of the order 
of the world, but the expression of it — so far from 
accounting for the origin of the world, it is one of 
the chief things whose origin has to be accounted for. 
Evolution only professes to offer an account of the 
development of the world, but it does not profess 
either to account for it, or for itself. 

"The neutrality of evolution here has been again 

38 



COMPARATIVE RELIGION 

and again asserted by its chief exponents, and the 
fact ought to take a place in all future discussion of 
the subject. Mr. Huxley's words alone should be 
sufficient to set the theological mind at rest. 'The 
doctrine of evolution,' he writes, 'is neither theistic 
nor anti-theistic. It has no more to do with theism 
than the first book of Euclid has. It does not even 
come in contact with theism considered as a scientific 
doctrine.' 'Behind the co-operating forces of nature,' 
says Weissman, 'which aim at a purpose, we must 
admit a cause . . . inconceivable in its nature, 
of which we can say only one thing with certainty, 
that it must be theological.' 

"Far too lightly, in the past, have religious minds 
been wont to assume the irreligiousness of scientific 
thought. Scientific thought, as scientific thought, 
can neither be religious nor irreligious; yet when the 
pure man of science speaks a pure word of science — 
a neutral and colorless word — because he has failed 
to put in the theological color he has been branded as 
an infidel. It must not escape notice, in any summing 
up of the present situation, how scientific men have 
themselves repudiated this charge. It is not denied 
that some have given ground for it by explicit utter- 
ance — even by blatant, insolent, and vulgar utterance. 
But far more, and among them those who are cur- 
rently supposed to stand foremost in the opposing 
ranks, have expressly denounced it and gone out of 
their way to denounce it. 

"Professor Tyndall says: 'I have noticed during 
years of self-observation that it is not in hours of 
clearness and vigor that atheism commends itself to 
my mind ; that in the hours of stronger and healthier 
thought it ever dissolves and disappears, as offering 
no solution of the mystery in which we dwell and of 
which we form part.* 

"Apart from that, it may well be that some of 
the protest of science against theism is directed not 
against a true theism, but against those superstitions 

39 



RELIGION AS A SCIENTIFIC STUDY 

and irrational forms which it is the business of science, 
in whatever department, to expose. What Tyndall 
calls a 'fierce and distorted theism,' and which else- 
where he does not spare, is as much an enemy of 
Christianity as of science; and if science can help 
Christianity to destroy it, it does well. What we 
have really to fight against is both unfounded belief 
and unfounded unbelief; and there is perhaps just as 
much of the one as of the other afloat in current 
literature. 'In these days,' says Ruskin, 'you have 
to guard against the fatalist darkness of the two 
opposite prides: the pride of faith, which imagines 
that the nature of the Deity can be defined by its 
convictions, and the pride of science, which imagines 
that the energy of Deity can be explained by its 
analysis.' 

"The question as to the proportion of scientific 
men who take the Christian side is too foreign to 
the present theme to call for remark; but as a matter 
of fact there is probably no more real unbelief among 
men of science than among men of any other pro- 
fession. The numbering of heads here is not a system 
that one fancies, but as it is a line often taken on the 
opposite side, and seems to have a weight with certain 
minds, I record here, in passing, the following author- 
ized statement by a well-known Fellow of the Royal 
Society of London. 

" 'I have known the British Association under 
forty-one different presidents — all leading men of 
science, with the exception of two or three appointed 
on other grounds. On looking over these forty-one 
names, I count twenty who, judged by their private 
utterances or private communications, are men of 
Christian belief and character, while, judged by the 
same test, only four disbelieve in any divine revela- 
tion. Of the remaining seventeen, some have pos- 
sibly been religious men, and others may have been 
opponents; but it is fair to suppose that the greater 
part have given no very serious thought to the sub- 

40 



COMPARATIVE RELIGION 

ject. I do not mean to say that all these twenty 
have been men of much spirituality, and certainly 
some of them have not been classed as "orthodox," 
but the figures at least indicate that religious faith 
rather than unbelief has characterized the leading 
men of the Association.' 

"But to return: Instead of robbing the world of 
a God, science has done more than all the philosophies 
and natural theologies of the past to sustain and en- 
rich the theistic conception. Thus: (1) It has made 
it impossible for the world ever to worship any other 
God. The sun, for instance, and the stars have been 
'found out.' Science has shown us exactly what they 
are. No man can worship them any more. If science 
has not by searching found out God, it has not found 
any other god, or anything the least like a god that 
might continue to be even a conceivable object of 
worship in a scientific age. (2) By searching, though 
it has not found God, it has found a place for God. 
At the back of all phenomena science posits God. 
As never before, from the purely physical side, there 
is room in the world for God; there is a license to 
anyone who can name this name to affirm, to speak 
out, to introduce to the world the object of his faith. 
And the gain here is distinct. Hitherto theology 
held it as an almost untested dogma that God created 
the world. That dogma has now passed through the 
fiercest of crucibles and comes out untarnished. A 
permission to go on, a license from the best of mod- 
ern science to resume the old belief, is at least some- 
thing. 

"(3) By vastly extending our knowledge of 
creation, science has given us a more God-like God. 
The new-found energies in the world demand a will, 
and an ever-present will. God no longer made the 
world and withdrew; He pervades the whole. Appear- 
ing at special crises, according to the old view. He was 
conceived of as the non-resident God, the occasional 
wonder-worker. Now He is always there. Science 

41 



RELIGION AS A SCIENTIFIC STUDY 

has nothing finer to offer Christianity than this ex- 
altation of its supreme conception — God. Is it too 
much to say that in a practical age like the present, 
when the idea and practice of worship tend to be 
forgotten, God should wish to reveal Himself afresh 
in ever more striking ways? Is it too much to say 
that at this distance from creation, with the eye of 
theology resting largely upon the incarnation and 
work of the man Christ Jesus, the Almighty should 
design with more and more impressiveness to utter 
Himself as the Wonderful, the Counselor, the Great 
and Mighty God? Whether this be so or not, it is 
certain that every step of science discloses the at- 
tributes of the Almighty with a growing magnifi- 
cence. The author of Natural Religion tells us that 
'the average scientific man worships just at present 
a more awful, and as it were, a greater, deity than the 
average Christian.' Certain it is that the Christian 
view and the scientific view together form a concep- 
tion of the object of worship, such as the world in its 
highest inspiration never reached before. The old 
student of natural theology rose from his contempla- 
tion of design in nature with heightened feelings of 
the wisdom, goodness, and power of the Almighty. 
But never before had the attributes of eternity and 
immensity and infinity clothed themselves with lan- 
guage so majestic in its sublimity. 

**ni. Evolution has swept over the argument 
from design and left it unchanged except for the 
better. In its old form, it is as well to admit squarely, 
this argument has been swept away. To it, as to the 
doctrine of special creation, the work of the later 
naturalists has proved absolutely fatal. But the same 
hand that destroyed, fulfilled, and this beautiful and 
serviceable argument has lately received such a re- 
habilitation from evolution as to promise for it a new 
lease of life and usefulness. Darwin has not written 
a chapter that is not full of teleology. The 'design' 
is there still, less in the part than in the whole, less 

42 



COMPARATIVE RELIGION 

in the parts than in the relations of the parts; and 
though the time is not quite ripe yet for the full re- 
statement of the venerable argument, it is clear we 
are to have it with us again invested with profounder 
significance. It is of this that Mr. Huxley, after 
showing that the old argument is scientifically un- 
tenable, writes: 'It is necessary to remember that 
there is a wider teleology which is not touched by 
the doctrine of evolution, but is actually based upon 
the fundamental proposition of evolution.' 

"Passing away from these older and more familiar 
problems, let me indicate lastly, and in a few closing 
words, one or two of the more recently disclosed 
points of contact. Not a few theological doctrines, 
and some of supreme significance, are for the first 
time beginning to feel the effect of the new stand- 
point; and though it were premature to claim actual 
theological contribution from this direction, one can- 
not fail to notice where the rays are striking and to 
prophesy that before another half century is passed 
a theological advance of moment may result. The 
adjustments already made, it will be observed, have 
come exactly where all theological reconstruction 
must begin, with the foundation truths, the doctrines 
of God, creation and providence. Advances in due 
order and all along the line from these upward are 
what one might further and next expect. With sug- 
gestions in some of these newer directions the whole 
field of theology is already alive, and the opportunity 
now offered to theological science for a reconstruction 
or illumination of many of its most important doc- 
trines has never been surpassed in hopefulness or in- 
interest. 

"Under the new view, for instance, the whole 
question of the Incarnation is beginning to assume a 
fresh development. Instead of standing alone, an 
isolated phenomenon, its profound relations to the 
whole scheme of nature are opening up. The ques- 
tion of Revelation is undergoing a similar expansion. 

43 



RELIGION AS A SCIENTIFIC STUDY 

The whole order and scheme of nature, the books of 
science, the course of human history, are seen to be 
only parts of the manifold revelation of God. As to 
the specific revelation, the Old and New Testament 
Scriptures, evolution has already given the world 
what amounts to a new Bible. Its peculiarity is that 
in its form it is like the world in which it is found. 
It is a word, but its root is now known, and we have 
others words from the same root. Its substance is 
still the unchanged language of heaven, yet it is 
written in a familiar tongue. The new Bible is a 
book whose parts, though not of unequal value, are 
seen to be of different kinds of value; where the 
casual is distinguished from the essential, the local 
from the universal, the subordinate from the primal 
end. This Bible is not a book which has been made; 
it has grown. Hence it is no longer a mere word- 
book, nor a compendium of doctrines, but a nursery 
of growing truths. It is not an even plane of proof- 
texts without proportion or emphasis, or light and 
shade; but a revelation varied as nature with the 
divine in its hidden parts, in its spirit, its tendencies, 
its obscurities, and its omissions. Like nature, it has 
successive strata and valley and hilltop, and at- 
mosphere, and rivers which are flowing still, and 
here and there a place which is desert, and fossils, 
too, whose crude forms are the stepping-stones to 
higher things. It is a record of inspired deeds, as 
well as of inspired words, an ascending series of in- 
spired facts in a matrix of human history. This is 
not the product of any destructive movement, nor 
is this transformed book in any sense a mutilated 
Bible. All this has taken place, it may be, without 
the elimination of a book or the loss of an important 
word. It is simply the transformation by a method 
whose main warrant is that the book lends itself to it. 
"Other questions are moving just now, but one 
has only to name them. The doctrine of immortality, 
the relation of the person of Christ to evolution, and 

44 



COMPARATIVE RELIGION 

the modes of operation of the Holy Spirit are attract- 
ing attention, and lines of new thought are already 
at the suggestion stage. Not least in interest also is 
a possible contribution from science on some of the 
more practical problems of sociology and the doctrine 
of sin. On the last point, the suggestion of evolution 
that sin may be the relic of the animal past of man, 
the undestroyed residuum of the animal and the 
savage, ranks at least as a hypothesis, and with 
proper safeguards may one day yield some glimmering 
light to theology on its oldest and darkest problem. 
If this partial suggestion, and at present it is nothing 
more, can be followed out to any purpose, the result 
will be of much greater than speculative interest. 
For if science can help us in any way to know how 
sin came into the world, it may help us better to 
know how to get it out. Even to diagnose it more 
thoroughly will be a gain. Sin is not a theme to be 
expounded only through the medium of proof- texts; 
it is to be studied from the life, to be watched biolog- 
ically, and followed out through all its psychological 
states. A more accurate analysis, a better under- 
standing of its genesis and nature, may modify some 
at least of the attempts now being made to get rid 
of it, whether in the national or individual life, which 
are as futile as they are unscientific. But the time is 
not ripe to speak with other than the greatest caution 
and humility of these still tremendous problems." 

In the papers and addresses presented at this 
Parliament there was great interest in the questions 
of the Fatherhood of God, the brotherhood of man, 
the immortality of the soul, monotheism as the orig- 
inal worship, the reality of sin and its eventual 
punishment. 



45 



CHAPTER II 

Comparative Religion As a Study 

1. The Origin 

THERE is a profound interest, yea, fascina- 
tion, in "beginnings." No one thing in the 
World's Fair in Chicago in 1893 attracted so 
much attention as the early models — plows, har- 
vesters, engines, phonographs, etc. People would 
start at the end of the line showing the early models 
and follow along to the other end. They would stop, 
talk, comment, and marvel at the improvements. 
The study was not only intensely interesting, but 
equally informing as well. 

When some great character looms on the horizon 
and begins to do things, people begin at once to in- 
quire about his origin. « The school boy knows the 
outstanding things in the early life of the nation's 
great men, though he has not read their history. 
There is a fascination about the beginning of every 
science. Who has not been infatuated when con- 
templating the origin of the earth and the begin- 
ning of man thereon? About all one can do is to 
just throw himself back, give rein to the imagina- 
tion, think, wonder, and dream! The more important 
a thing is, the deeper and more profoundly man pon- 
ders its origin. This desire to know the origin of 
things is not mere curiosity, but an indication of the 
greatness of man, and manifests a power that differ- 
entiates him from all other beings or things. So far 

46 



COMPARATIVE RELIGION AS A STUDY 

as we know, nothing else in the universe is interested 
in its origin. 

This curious, questioning being knows he is either 
dependent or independent. He does not ponder 
long till he is thoroughly convinced that he is not 
independent, and then with an instinct that is in- 
nate and universal, he expresses his dependence on 
the Independent One. Religion is simply the calling 
upon, or the worship of, a higher power from a sense 
of need. There has never been a people found on this 
earth who did not have some form of religious wor- 
ship. These forms differ just as the people differ in 
appearance, customs, and intelligence. Unless man's 
religious instinct is meaningless, unless a lie has been 
built into his very being and Incorporated into his 
thought life, his religion — his relation to that 
"Higher Power" — is the most important thing In 
his life. "The fear of the Lord Is the beginning of 
wisdom." He who does not fear or worship God has 
not learned the "beginning of wisdom." 

The wisest and best men who have ever lived 
have been deeply interested In the origin of religion, 
its development In this world, and Its culmination In 
the world beyond. Herein is the explanation — that 
man is deeply interested in everything that throws 
light on the origin of religions. The different religions 
are but the development of this religious idea among 
the different peoples of the earth. 

2. The History 

History Is a record of the most Important events 
in human existence chronologically arranged. If re- 
ligion holds the place In human life that we claim for 

47 



RELIGION AS A SCIENTIFIC STUDY 

it, its history is of the highest importance. If we 
study the people of the earth and ignore their re- 
Hgion, we get but a partial and very imperfect view. 
If we study those religions unsympathetically, we 
will not get at their deeper truths. We should not 
speak of them as "False Religions," "Doomed Re- 
ligions," etc. These religions are manifestations of 
the great religious idea. They have truth and meet 
some human need, or they would not have survived 
until the present time. To speak contemptuously of 
another religion is not a commendation of our re- 
ligion. The writer has seen Christian people show 
disrespect, yea, contempt, in mosques where scores 
of apparently devout people were performing their 
accustomed devotions. Such acts originate in ig- 
norance, thoughtlessness, or Phariseeism, and tend 
to bring the Christian religion into contempt among 
foreigners. 

We judge a religion, and rightly so, by its devo- 
tees. Paul called the Corinthians Christian "epistles 
who were known and read of all men." (2 Cor. 3. 2.) 
What we ask for one religion we ought to be willing 
to grant to other religions. The world judges Chris- 
tianity by the lives of professing Christians, and by 
the influence it exerts in a country where it is domi- 
nant. As we study the religions of the world, we 
shall apply the same test to them that we ask them 
to apply to us. 

We need to keep in mind the evolution of re- 
ligious ideas. To say our religious ideas are much 
higher than they were fifty years ago is not saying 
that Christians of fifty years ago were not living up 
to their light. We can't judge the people of fifty 

48 



COMPARATIVE RELIGION AS A STUDY 

years ago by the light we have to-day. We cannot 
judge the rehgious standards of all people by the 
light we have in this favored land. He who brings 
the bottom of his life to the top of his light and does 
the best he knows or has opportunity to know, has 
nothing to fear in this life or the life to come. 

3. The Comparison of Religions 

This study calls for a comparison of religions and 
for a contrast of religions as well. This method is 
used in nearly all lines of investigation. We are 
familiar with Comparative Anatomy, Comparative 
Education, Comparative Philosophy, Comparative 
Literature, Comparative Agriculture, etc. The stu- 
dent is taught the importance of Comparative Anat- 
omy and the place it holds in the study of the physi- 
ology of man. Persons preparing for teachers spe- 
cialize in education, and they do not proceed far in 
their specialization till they begin to compare and 
contrast our educational standards and methods 
with those of other countries. The person who has 
studied the philosophy of one country only knows but 
little of philosophy. 

We are not the only people who think. People 
in all ages and in all countries have wrestled with the 
problems which we face. The field of philosophical 
thought has been so thoroughly cultivated that it 
yields but little that is new to the modern student. 
Some theories that are being exploited as new and 
wonderful are outworn and were exploded a thou- 
sand years ago. Literature is a wonderful aid in 
enabling us to understand the people who lived in 
the past, and who are living now in different parts of 
* 49 



RELIGION AS A SCIENTIFIC STUDY 

the world. Much of our best literature is colored 
and flavored by extracts from the choice literature 
of the world, which have been woven into it by 
writers who have carefully adhered to the com- 
parative method. Agriculture has been brought to 
its present perfection because the farmer has gone 
to school where he has studied the most approved 
methods of agriculture and applied the information 
that others gained by experience. He also learned 
to avoid the mistakes of others. The comparative 
method is a potent factor in the progress the world 
is making along all lines. But it has had a hard 
time in gaining recognition in the religious world. 

Religious ideas and customs change very slowly. 
Customs, traditions, and beliefs linger long and 
wield an influence after they have been outgrown. 
Many people are influenced by superstitions, myths, 
beliefs, which they are free to say they do not be- 
lieve — signs, lucky days, numbers, etc. The writer 
had an invitation to a dinner party where there 
were supposed to be fourteen guests, but one failed 
at the last moment. The husband was a prominent 
lawyer and the wife a cultured club woman, and of 
course they did not believe in "unlucky numbers," 
but they would feel just a little more comfortable 
not to have "thirteen" at the table, so the matter 
was explained to a neighbor who dressed hurriedly 
and came in just in time to take the "curse off the 
dinner." He had neighbors next door who were in- 
telligent Christian people and were kind as they were 
good, for they loaded his table with choice vegetables 
from their splendid garden. These kind friends were 
careful to observe certain signs in planting the seeds, 

50 



COMPARATIVE RELIGION AS A STUDY 

just as careful as though they were planting them in 
the moon instead of in the ground. 

Religious superstition dies as hard as any 
other kind of superstition. Maryolotry and bibli- 
olatry are idolatry when not shielded by the religious 
aegis. The religious aegis has its place, but we are 
hot blind to the fact that it has sometimes stood in 
the way of progress. Good men have held up their 
hands in holy horror at the very thought of com- 
paring other religions with Christianity. The author 
has this day received a letter from an intelligent 
Christian gentleman, denouncing an article on Com- 
parative Religion by Dr. Soper in the Methodist 
Review. The article is reasonable and Christian and 
conservative as it could be to be progressive. 

The Christian religion asks no favors, courts no 
compromises, but steps boldly into the public forum 
and demands recognition. It makes marvelous 
claims and offers credentials proving the truth of 
the claims. He is an ignorant coward or an untrue 
friend who is unwilling to accept the challenge to 
compare, to contrast, and to study Christianity in 
connection with the religions of the world. The man 
whose account is correct welcomes the auditor. He 
who has a clean life is glad to have his record investi- 
gated. He who has perfect faith in his religion 
should gladly face its critics, saying, "Come on 
with your facts." The truth has nothing to fear. 
In religious matters, the attitude of the faint-hearted 
is fuel for doubt and unbelief. The strongest testi- 
mony to the Christian religion is an unfaltering faith 
that demands an investigation of every disputed 
question. 

51 



RELIGION AS A SCIENTIFIC STUDY 

4. Customs 

The ancients were not surprised to find that 
other nationalities or peoples had religions differing 
from theirs. Different religions and different philos- 
ophies were as much to be expected as different cus- 
toms and clothing. When by conquest it became 
necessary for people to live under a different govern- 
ment, they naturally expected to have a different 
philosophy and a different religion. When a man 
became a Greek citizen he thereby adopted the 
Greek religion. War was a conquest of ideas and 
religions as well as of territory, and the conquerors 
generally required the subjugated peoples to adopt 
their language, government, philosophy, and re- 
ligion. The United States is just now (October 15, 
1918) learning the unwisdom of permitting for- 
eigners to propagate their own language, philosophy, 
and religion in this free republic. Since Prussianism 
has launched a campaign, we are awaking from our 
lethargy to find that while we were pursuing our 
even way and developing this Free Republic, there 
has grown up in our country a system of schools that 
teach a foreign language and Church organizations 
using a foreign language, a banking system known 
as German American, a great social organization 
known as the German-American Alliance. These 
organizations and institutions have grown up nat- 
urally, and many of the people who started them 
and fostered them had no thought of disloyalty, for 
these "German-Americans" fled to this country to 
escape an oppression which they despised, but "time 
is a great healer," and their love for the Fatherland 

52 



COMPARATIVE RELIGION AS A STUDY 

was undying and they remembered with tenderness 
the relatives left behind. 

This natural condition produced a fruitful soul 
for disloyalty. The most conscienceless villains that 
ever sat upon a throne took advantage of this con- 
dition and sowed Prussian propaganda that is threat- 
ening to disrupt the republic. The plan for this has 
been carefully and skillfully laid, and is far reaching. 
To thwart these plans and stamp out smouldering 
disloyalty will require time and wisdom, but this 
Republic will never be safe till it is accomplished. 
It may become necessary to disband organizations, 
to close schools and churches, confiscate property, 
and deport aliens, but Americans are saying, "We 
cannot surrender the privileges for which our fore- 
fathers fought, bled, and died." 

The Judeans deported to Babylon continued to 
worship Jehovah, which was the first instance in 
human history of people dwelling in a foreign coun- 
try worshiping a god not of the country. The atti- 
tude of these captives had much influence in causing 
monotheism to spread over the earth. The mono- 
theistic idea has never submitted to state or national 
control. Religion has generally been controlled by 
the state. The United States of America set the 
world an example of the separation of the state and 
religion because she had this larger monotheistic 
conception. 

Notwithstanding this separation, religion has 
been a most important factor in our national devel- 
opment. The very foundation on which our govern- 
ment rests was laid by men and women who were 
not only religious but Christian as well. The great 

53 



RELIGION AS A SCIENTIFIC STUDY 

monument at Plymouth that commemorates the 
landing of our forefathers is supported by four 
cornerstones: "Justice," "Education," "Morality," 
"Religion." We have given to these ideas the Chris- 
tian conception, "Justice" to the poorest and most 
obscure; "Education" for the masses; "MoraHty" 
that is vital to religion; "Religion" that is Chris- 
tian. History gives us many examples of "justice," 
so called, that ignored the poor and crushed their 
rights; of "education" that exalted the few and pre- 
pared them to rule the masses with a rod of iron; of 
"religion" absolutely divorced from morality. Chris- 
tianity has brought to the world, and especially to 
America, new ideals, ideals that are leavening so- 
ciety and percolating down to its lowest strata. 
Many people who stand for these principles and are 
putting in their fortunes and lives to make them 
win, do not think of them as Christian principles. 
Christian ideas are beginning to mold society by 
quietly changing business methods and social rela- 
tions. This awful war that has lined up the nations 
of the world is nothing less than a universal conflict 
for the triumph of Christian ideals. The men who 
have gone to the "front" and "gone over the top" 
have fought and died for the principles for which 
Christ died. Nothing can save the world from utter 
ruin but the triumph of these principles. If proper 
missionary zeal had been put forth, these principles 
might have triumphed by peaceable methods. The 
Psalmist predicted that the time would come when 
"God would rise in judgment to save the meek of 
earth and make the wrath of man praise him." 
(Psalm 76. 9, 10.) This is the time the Psalmist pre- 

54 



COMPARATIVE RELIGION AS A STUDY 

dieted. The Christian reUgion has been the most 
potent factor in the progress of the world for the 
past two thousand years. 

A glance at the map of the world will show the 
light spots where Christianity has planted the ban- 
ner of the Cross. Is it an accident that these same 
light spots indicate the places where civilization has 
made the greatest progress? Is it an accident that 
Protestant Christianity is the force that dominates 
these light spots? What was it that fought slavery 
to the death? that is pushing the breweries and 
saloons off the map? that is winning the battle for 
social uplift? 

5. General Culture 

Religious teachers have been leaders of thought 
in all ages and "like people like priest" (Hosea 4. 9) 
has always been the rule. Culture has been the off- 
spring of religion. If religion had been purer and 
stronger, culture would have been better, for re- 
ligion was the only force that produced culture. 
The light of learning came near extinction during 
the "Dark Ages" and would have gone out entirely 
but for the fostering care of a flickering religion. 
The critic should not find fault with the Church be- 
cause the light of learning got dim, for opposing 
influences had nearly extinguished Christianity itself. 
Christianity has founded and sustained the schools 
and culture in our own country. Nearly all the col- 
leges and universities have been founded by the 
Church. The critics learned their trade at Christian 
altars. The Church does not object to criticism. 
This is an age when the schoolmaster is abroad and 

55 



RELIGION AS A SCIENTIFIC STUDY 

everything that is false will go and ought to go — 
the sooner the better. 

This does not mean that all the assumptions of 
science, "falsely so called" (1 Tim. 6. 20) must be 
received as truths. It is still true that the opposi- 
tion of this kind of science is causing "some profess- 
ing Christians to err from the truth." Religion and 
science have separate fields, but are in harmony 
wherever they are true. Apparent conflicts come 
from misunderstandings. In both science and re- 
ligion persons are liable to be confused by yielding 
to their predilections instead of insisting on facts. 
Intelligent, earnest students are in but little danger 
of being led from their religion by studying science. 
Science as well as religion touches life at some point, 
and if we get the facts we seek, we must approach 
these subjects in a sympathetic attitude, but this 
attitude should not be allowed to degenerate into 
one of weak indecision. Renan did this to such an 
extent that his attitude gave rise to the term "Re- 
nanism." Such a course reminds one of the justice 
who listened patiently to the argument of the plain- 
tiff and heard with equal sympathy the defendant 
and said, "You are right." A third party reminded 
this judge that it was not possible for both parties 
to be "right" when they stood diametrically op- 
posed, to which the judge replied, "You are also 
right." 

We should study religious customs and literature 
sympathetically and carefully in order to clear our 
own minds of prejudice. There is often a deep- 
seated reason for customs which seem to us to be 
silly and superstitious. Certain animals are "taboo" 

56 



COMPARATIVE RELIGION AS A STUDY 

by some heathen people because of their supersti- 
tion (or their evolutionary theory, if you please) 
that they sprang from this animal, and the animal 
is therefore sacred. Dr. Jastrow, in his Study of 
Religion makes it plain that Comparative Religion 
should have a large place, as a cultural subject, in 
our colleges. There is not a subject in the curricu- 
lum that opens a wider and more varied field for cul- 
ture. 

6. Psychology 

The study of psychology has a certain Important 
relation to religion; ethics is an integral part; philos- 
ophy overlaps, and mythology is a kindred topic. 
Moore has said that "the best study of mankind Is 
man." We would certainly be very strange beings if 
we were not interested in human nature with all 
man's intellectual achievements and psychological 
manifestations. It is only recently that psychology 
has been accorded its proper place in the study of 
religion. It has not been a generation ago that the 
writings of Professors Starbuck, James, and Coe 
created opposition because they treated religion 
psychologically. Such philosophy may be dangerous 
to the thinking of the shallow and superstitious, 
while shallow philosophizing may be dangerous to 
any kind of thinking. 

Schleiermacher claims that the real support of 
religion is In the emotions. Hartmann says: "The 
emotions reveal to us the deepest abysses and the 
highest peaks in the religious life." We need to 
keep careful watch over our emotional as well as 
over our intellectual lives if we would have a healthy 

57 



RELIGION AS A SCIENTIFIC STUDY 

religion. The balance must be kept right between 
the emotional and intellectual. Serious injury may 
come to religion should this subject come to be dom- 
inated by men who have intellectual acumen but no 
religious experience. 

Great emotional display is no proof of genuine 
and deep experience. One sign of culture is the 
ability to control the emotions. In religion or else- 
where it is easy to shout louder than one lives, 
but if the religious appeal is to the intellect only, 
worship degenerates into cold scholasticism and 
fails to influence the life. The religious instinct is 
an integral part of human nature, and man will 
worship, and in this worship he is simply trying to 
attach himself to some object higher than he is. 

7. Mythology 

To admit that Christianity has been Influ- 
enced by superstitions and mythology is casting no 
reflection, but is simply admitting what is but a 
natural consequence of its surroundings. "Doc- 
trine," so called, is but the outgrowth of beliefs, and 
these beliefs may be true or false — may originate in 
superstition, mythology, fear, or fact. Paul admon- 
ished the Christians to be able to give a reason for 
their hope. (1 Peter 3. 15.) It is easy to hold to 
doctrines and entertain hopes without being able to 
give intelligent reasons for so doing. Some current 
theological notions originated in the nursery, where 
it is easy to attribute divine attributes to dolls; 
others in the childhood of the human race. The 
only difference in these origins is in age and parentage. 

A belief or superstition born in the infancy of the 

58 



COMPARATIVE RELIGION AS A STUDY 

race may be as silly and meaningless as one born 
from the brain of a child in the nursery. How shall 
we interpret the myth? Myths are woven and inter- 
woven into nearly all subjects, and it is not surpris- 
ing that we find them in religion. They hover 
around all natural phenomena. Life in the vegetable 
world has given myth-makers a fruitful field. They 
have explained the rising and setting sun by creating 
genii who have taken it back and forth in a boat 
through "Tuat." These myths linger long and have 
an influence after the people have outgrown them, 
and people are slow in abandoning customs. (Re- 
ligious customs are no exception.) A myth usually 
has a foundation in fact. 

Nothing short of divine inspiration and guidance 
for all writers and copyists of the holy Scriptures 
could keep mythical influence from playing a part 
in forming the wonderful narrative known as the 
Bible. There are many mysteries in the Bible, just 
as there are in nature, but the German method of 
explaining them by attributing them to myths 
throws no light on the problems. 



59 



CHAPTER III 

Mono theism 

THE idea that there is a supreme God or Ruler 
is innate in man and lies at the foundation of 
all worship. This conception is spoken of as 
Monotheism. Some writers on Comparative Re- 
ligion start their inquiry with the assumption that 
Monotheism and our present religious ideas are evo- 
lutions from fetishism. They are right in saying 
the claim is an assumption. The "assumption" is 
illogical, unhistorical, and atheistic. If fetishism is 
a "worship of a higher power from a sense of need," 
there is in the worship a recognition of a power that 
is higher than the fetish. The worshiper often chas- 
tises or destroys the fetish because it fails as an agent 
to bring the desired help from this higher power. 

"Fetishism is incontrovertible proof that the lack 
of correct knowledge was the true and only cause of 
polytheism, and that to the uncultured savage 
everything is God or may be God." — Meiner's History 
of Religion. 

"The theory, supported by the facts, is the ex- 
istence of a primitive religion communicated to man 
from without and the gradual clouding over of this 
primitive monotheistic revelation." — Rawlinson's 
Religions. 

"Fetishism is evidently a decided corruption of an 
earlier and simpler religion. The order was 'In the 
beginning God.* " — Max Miiller. 

60 



MONOTHEISM 

The "fetish" is simply a charm through which a 
higher power is supposed to operate. The savage 
recognizes that he is not his own master, but is de- 
pendent on some higher power with which he tries 
to get into communication. The idea takes various 
forms among different peoples. The author has 
studied at first hand the worship of snakes, animals, 
monkeys, turtles, ants, voodism, etc. But for 
space and time he would give personal observations 
filling pages. His conclusion is that back of all 
these forms there is a reaching out of the soul after 
a higher power. (See Acts 17. 23.) "Since man by 
sin has lost his God he seeks creation through and 
vainly strives for solid bliss in trying something new." 

The Ephesians worshiped a black stone resem- 
bling a human figure, which they called Diana, 
claiming it fell from heaven. In the Philippines the 
people worship a stone which they call the Black 
Christ. They claim it fell from heaven. The famous 
Kaba stone is worshiped in Mecca. Fungshi (or 
luck) was until very recently a department of Gov- 
ernment in China and still holds the people in its 
grasp. Xerxes gave the Hellespont three hundred 
lashes because it disobeyed him. Superstition has 
not passed away even in our enlightened country, as 
is evidenced by the fear, or reverence, of the number 
"thirteen," "Friday," "signs," "fortune-telling," 
"witchcraft," "The Holy Grail," "bones of saints," 
"nails from the Cross," etc. These are but forms of 
fetishism. Schleiermacher says, "These tendencies 
reveal a God-consciousness and are not therefore so 
dangerous as materialism." The fetish-worshiper is 
safer than the fool." (Psalm 14. 1.) 

61 



RELIGION AS A SCIENTIFIC STUDY 

Religious creeds, beliefs, and practices linger long 
after they have been outgrown by the people who 
assent to them. This is an indication of man's rev- 
erence for religion. The reverence of things religious 
is to be commended and yet guarded. The writer 
once had a dream in which he saw many actors, one 
of whom called out in a stentorian voice, "Guard 
carefully the faith of your childhood." The dream 
made no particular impression on his mind, as he 
regarded dreams as having no particular meaning 
and coming from the wanderings of a restless brain 
when not controlled by the will. The memory of the 
dream caused him to go very carefully over the be- 
liefs and faith of his childhood. He found the beliefs 
to be sacred and founded in the main on facts. They 
were the beliefs of childhood and were true to a 
childish conception. Larger views of life had given 
larger interpretations to these truths. 

He has found the study of the religions of the 
world the very soul of history — a study of the de- 
sires and aspirations of the human soul when at its 
best. No study is more fascinating and broadening. 
He has concluded that the religion of the race is 
epitomized in the religion of the individual, and that 
the faith and religion of the race when in its childhood 
was no more reliable than his own childhood faith. 
As the race has advanced, its views of duty, faith, 
and God have necessarily changed. 

The study of religion is not wholly unlike other 
studies. One becomes an astronomer by having 
faith in the stars, by committing himself to their 
study, by being in sympathy with his investigation. 
If one would become an electrician, he must have 

62 



MONOTHEISM 

faith in things he does not see nor comprehend. 
Figuratively speaking, he must experience electricity 
before he can see the electron. This is a general 
truth — that faith, belief, and sympathy are neces- 
sary in all studies of great problems. Christ is em- 
phasizing this truth when He says that "he who wills 
to do His will shall know the doctrine." A definite, 
fixed faith that brings one into sympathy and ex- 
perience is necessary in understanding religion. 

Many of the commentaries on the Bible and the 
Christian religion are worthless because the writers 
lacked sympathy and experience. No amount of 
learning or knowledge can atone for this lack. Many 
of the deepest problems of the soul that touch human 
destiny can be understood only by faith and ex- 
perience. When people who lack this qualification 
are leaders, whether as writers, preachers, or teachers, 
the effect is bad in proportion to the extent of their 
influence. 

The beliefs and objects worshiped depend largely 
on the enlightenment and civilization of the people; 
and on the other hand, the civilization of the people 
depends largely on the beliefs and objects worshiped. 
Which is cause and which is effect? Here, as in other 
instances, cause and effect are hard to separate. In 
a man's apostasy from God, he does not begin by 
committing great crimes, but by the doing of things 
that seem to him of but slight importance. If we 
draw the analogy between the experience of the indi- 
vidual and the experience of the race, we will con- 
clude that the race began its departure from God by 
slow and almost imperceptible stages. The people 
began their downward course by worshiping some- 

63 



RELIGION AS A SCIENTIFIC STUDY 

thing they regarded as but Httle lower than God — 
probably the heavens or the sun. The writer saw a 
splendid Christian woman gazing upon the rising sun 
when it was shooting its golden rays through a grove 
covered with snow and ice. She finally exclaimed, 
"If I did not worship God, I certainly would worship 
the sun." Following the suggestion, it is possible to 
write in reasonably correct order the beliefs that man 
has held, and the objects he has worshiped as he has 
gone away from God. Many religious customs and 
ceremonies show unmistakable evidences of being de- 
generations of some more exalted worship. The his- 
tory of the race and of religion, when not ballasted 
by reliance on the higher and divine power, has been 
devolution, not evolution. 

Some have taken it upon themselves to write the 
history of Fetishism, Animism, Spiritism, etc. These 
early peoples left no records, so imagination has laid 
the foundation for a vast amount of guess work. As 
long as human nature is what it is, society will be 
divided up into cults, lodges, creeds, etc. These will 
have their own peculiar customs, forms, worship, 
etc., which will be governed by the intelligence and 
general character of the people. There is no good 
reason for believing this tendency has not always 
been prevalent among people in all parts of the world 
and that it will not be until the end of time. The 
more intelligent heathens regarded Fetishism, An- 
imism, and Spiritism much as the more intelligent 
people of this age regard Christian Science, Spirit- 
ualism, Theosophy, etc. 

Voltaire was a theist, though he was a disbeliever 
in the Church of his day. The visitor to Geneva 

64 



MONOTHEISM 

should not fail to visit the Chateau of Ferney, where 
he will find things much as they were when Voltaire 
lived. In the park hard by is the parish church on 
which is the inscription, "Built by Voltaire for God." 
He was disgusted with priests, creeds, churches, doc- 
trines, etc. This is not to be wondered at when we 
remember the religious atmosphere in which he lived. 
He asserted the everlasting reality of religion and 
declared that science could deal only with secondary 
causes. The old Greeks recognized God as imma- 
nent in the world, while the Latins recognized God 
as a power outside of the course of nature and occa- 
sionally interfering with it. Voltaire held firmly to 
the doctrine of design as set forth by Xenophon and 
elaborated by Paley, tracing all phenomena to a 
First Cause. 

It probably never occurred to anyone to try to 
prove the existence of God till it was doubted, and 
doubts on this subject are very modern. Mankind 
generally has taken for granted the existence of God. 
This idea has taken different forms according to the 
surroundings or intelligence of the people, but the 
notion of a kinship between God and man remains 
and is essential to theism. When people talk of 
Force, Energy, and Power as God, they are talking 
nonsense, for in such conceptions there is no satis- 
faction to the human soul. 

In all ages, religion has comprised three elements: 
first, a belief in Deity as quasi-human; second, a be- 
lief in an unseen world in which human beings con- 
tinued to exist after death; third, a belief or recog- 
nition of the ethical aspect of life as related to the 
Unseen World. These three elements are essential 
' 65 



RELIGION AS A SCIENTIFIC STUDY 

to religion. Life in the natural world is nothing 
more or less than the continuous adjustment of inner 
relations to outer relations. When animal or plant 
fails to respond to external stimuli, we say "dead." 
The religious life always responds to these three ele- 
ments mentioned. When there is no response to 
the idea of God or to the unseen world or to immor- 
tality, there is spiritual death. The physical life and 
spiritual life of the individual are not necessarily co- 
terminus, for they are separate and distinct. The 
real man is not the body; he looks out through the 
eyes, listens through the ears, and speaks through the 
mouth, but he is invisible, only as seen through his 
manifestations. 

Linnaeus was working in his garden when he saw 
God manifested in a flower and explained to a friend, 
"I saw God in His glory passing near me and bowed 
my head and worshiped." Such an act of worship 
is "religion." 

Agassiz, beginning an experiment, said to his 
students, "Be quiet and reverent while I ask God a 
question." 

"Worship as though the Deity were present, for 
if you fail to do this, it is not worship at all." — Con- 
fucius. 



66 



CHAPTER IV 

The God of Philosophy 

Rev. Augustine F. Hewitt 

THE thesis of my discourse is the rational 
demonstration of the being of God, as pre- 
sented in philosophy. This is a topic of the 
highest importance and of the deepest interest to all 
who are truly rational, who think, and who desire to 
know their destiny and to fulfill it. The minds of 
men always and everywhere, in so far as they have 
thought at all, have been deeply interested in all 
questions relating to the divine order and its rela- 
tions to nature and humanity. 

The idea of a divine principle and power, superior 
to sensible phenomena, above the changeable world 
and its short-lived inhabitants, is as old and extensive 
as the human race. Among vast numbers of the 
most enlightened part of mankind it has existed and 
held sway in the form of pure monotheism, and even 
among those who have deviated from this original 
religion of our first ancestors, the divine idea has 
never been entirely effaced and lost. In our own 
surrounding world, and for all classes of men differ- 
ing in creed and opinion, this theme is of paramount 
interest and import. 

Christians, Jews, Mohammedans, and philosoph- 
ical theists are agreed in professing monotheism as 
their fundamental and cardinal doctrine. Even un- 
believers and doubters show an interest in discussing 

67 



RELIGION AS A SCIENTIFIC STUDY 

and endeavoring to decide the question whether God 
does or does not exist. It is to be hoped that many of 
them regard their skepticism rather as a darkening 
cloud over the fact of nature than as a Hght clearing 
away the mists of error; that they would gladly be 
convinced that God does exist and govern a world 
which He has made. I may, therefore, hope for a 
welcome reception to my thesis. 

I have said that it is a thesis taken from the spe- 
cial metaphysics of philosophy. I must explain at 
the outset in what sense the term philosophy is 
used. It does not denote a system derived from the 
Christ revelation and imposed by the authority of 
the Church; it signified only that rational scheme 
which is received and taught in the schools as a 
science proceeding from its own proper principles 
by its own methods, and not a subaltern science to 
dogmatic theology. It has been adapted in great 
part from Aristotle and Plato, and does not disdain 
to borrow from any pure fountain or stream of 
rational truth. The topic before us is, therefore, to 
be treated in a metaphysical manner, on a ground 
where all who profess philosophy can meet, and where 
reason is the only authority which can be appealed 
to as umpire and judge. All who profess to be stu- 
dents of philosophy thereby proclaim their convic- 
tion that metaphysics is a true science by which 
certain knowledge can be obtained. 

Metaphysics, in its most general sense, is on- 
tology — i. e., discourse concerning being in its first 
and universal principles. Being, in all its latitude, 
in its total extension and comprehension, is the ade- 
quate object of intellect, taking intellect in its abso- 



THE GOD OF PHILOSOPHY 

lute essence, excluding all limitations. It is the 
object of the human intellect, in so far as this limited 
intellectual faculty is proportioned to it and capable 
of apprehending it. Metaphysics seeks for a knowl- 
edge of all things which are within the ken of human 
faculties in their deepest causes. It investigates 
their reason of being, their ultimate, efficient, and 
final causes. The rational argument for the exist- 
ence of God, guided by the principles of the sufficient 
reason and efficient causality, begins from contingent 
facts and events in the world and traces the chain of 
causation to the first cause. It demonstrates that 
God is, and it proceeds, by analysis and synthesis, 
by induction from all the first principles possessed 
by reason, from all the vestiges, reflections, and 
images of God in the creation, to determine what 
God is, His essence and its perfections. 

Let us then begin our argument from the first 
principle that everything that has any kind of being, 
that is, which presents itself as a thinkable, know- 
able, or real object to the intellect, has a sufficient 
reason of being. The possible has a sufficient reason 
of its possibility. There is in it an intelligible ratio 
which makes it thinkable; without this it is unthink- 
able, inconceivable, utterly impossible; as, for in- 
stance, a circle the points in whose circumference are 
of unequal distances from the center. The real has 
a sufficient reason for its real existence. If it is con- 
tingent, indifferent to non-existence or existence, it 
has not its sufficient reason of being in its essence. 
It must have it, then, from something outside itself, 
that is, from an efficient cause. 

All the beings with which we are acquainted- in 

69 



RELIGION AS A SCIENTIFIC STUDY 

the sensible world around us are contingent. They 
exist in determinate, specific, actual, individual forms 
and modes. They are in definite times and places. 
They have their proper substantial and accidental at- 
tributes; they have qualities and relations, active 
powers and passive potencies. They do not exist by 
any necessary reason of being; they have become 
what they are. They are subject to many changes 
even in their smallest molecules and in the combina- 
tions and movements of their atoms. This change- 
ableness is the mark of their contingency, the result 
of that potentiality in them which is not of itself in 
act, but is brought into act by some moving force. 
They are in act, that is, have actual being, inasmuch 
as they have a specific and individual reaHty. But 
they are never, in any one instant, in act to the 
whole extent of their capacity. There is a dormant 
potency of further actuation always in their actual 
essence. Moreover, there is no necessity in their 
essence for existing at all. The pure, ideal essence 
of things is, in itself, only possible. Their successive 
changes of existence are so many movements of 
transition from mere passing potency into act under 
the impulse of moving principles of force. And their 
very first act of existence is by a motion of transition 
from mere possibility into actuality. The whole mul- 
titude of things which become, of events which hap- 
pen, the total sum of movements and changes of 
contingent beings, taken collectively and taken 
singly, must have a sufficient reason of being in some 
extrinsic principle, some efficient cause. 

The admirable order which rules over this multi- 
tude, reducing it to the unity of the universe, is a 

70 



THE GOD OF PHILOSOPHY 

display of efficient causality on a stupendous scale. 
There is a correlation and conservation of force act- 
ing on the inert and passive matter, according to 
fixed laws, in harmony with a definite plan, and pro- 
ducing most wonderful results. Let us take our 
solar system as a specimen of the whole universe of 
bodies moving in space. According to the generally 
received and highly probable nebular theory, it has 
been evolved from a nebulous mass permeated by 
forces in violent action. The best chemists affirm by 
common consent that both the matter and the force 
are fixed quantities. No force and no matter ever 
disappears, no new force or new matter ever appears. 
The nebulous mass and the motive force acting 
within it are definite quantities having a definite 
location in space, at definite distances from other 
nebula. The atoms and molecules are combined in 
the definite forms of the various elementary bodies 
in definite proportions. The movements of rotation 
are in certain directions, condensation and incan- 
descence take place under fixed laws, and all these 
movements are coordinated and directed to a certain 
result, viz.: the formation of a sun and planets. 

Now, there is nothing in the nature of matter 
and force which determines it to take on just these 
actual conditions and no others. By their intrinsic 
essence they could just as well have existed in greater 
or lesser quantities in the solar nebula. The propor- 
tions of hydrogen, oxygen, and other substances 
might have been different. The movements of rota- 
tion might have been in a contrary direction. The 
process of evolution might have begun sooner and 
attained its finality ere now, or it might be begin- 

71 



RELIGION AS A SCIENTIFIC STUDY 

ning at the present moment. The marks of con- 
tingency are plainly to be discerned in the passive 
and active elements of the inchoate world as it 
emerges into the consistency and stable equilibrium 
of a solar system from primitive chaos. 

Equally obvious is the presence of a determining 
principle, acting as an irresistible law, regulating the 
transmission of force along definite lines and in a 
harmonious order. The active forces at work in 
nature, giving motion to matter, only transmit a 
movement which they have received, they do not 
originate. It makes no difference how far back the 
series of effects and causes may be traced, natural 
forces remain always secondary causes, with no suf- 
ficient reason of their being some original, primary 
principle from which they derive the force which 
they receive and transmit. They demand a First 
Cause. 

In the case of a long train of cars in motion, if we 
ask what moves the last car, the answer may be the 
car next before it, and so on until we reach the other 
end, but we have as yet only motion received and 
transmitted, and no sufficient reason for the initi- 
ation of the movement by an adequate efficient cause. 
Prolong the series to an indefinite length and you get 
no nearer to an adequate cause of the motion; you 
get no moving principle which possesses motive 
power in itself; the need of such a motive force, how- 
ever, continually increases. There is more force 
necessary to impart motion to the whole collection 
of cars than for one or a few. If you choose to imagine 
that the series of cars is infinite you have only aug- 
mented the effect produced to infinity without find- 

n 



THE GOD OF PHILOSOPHY 

ing a cause for it. You have made a supposition 
which imperatively demands the further supposition 
of an original principle and source of motion, which 
has an infinite power. The cars singly and collect- 
ively can only receive and transmit motion. Their 
passive potency of being moved, which is all they 
have in themselves, would never make them stir out 
of their motionless rest. There must be a locomotive 
with the motive power applied and acting, and a con- 
nection of the cars with this locomotive, in order 
that the train may be propelled along its tracks. 

The series of movements given and received in 
the evolution of the world from primitive chaos is 
like this long chain of cars. The question how did 
they come about, what is their efficient cause, starts 
up and confronts the mind at every stage of the 
process. You may trace back consequents to their 
antecedents, and show how the things which come 
after were virtually contained in those which came 
before. The present earth came from the paleozoic 
earth, and that from the azoic, and so on, until you 
come to the primitive nebula from which the solar 
system was constructed. 

But how did this vast mass of matter, and the 
mighty forces acting upon it, come to be started on 
their course of evolution, their movements in the 
direction of that result which we see to have been 
accomplished? It is necessary to go back to a first 
cause, a first mover, an original principle of all 
transition from mere potency into act, a being, self- 
existing, whose essence is pure act and the source of 
all actuality. The only alternative is to fall back 
on the doctrine of chance, an absurdity long since 

71 



RELIGION AS A SCIENTIFIC STUDY 

exploded and abandoned, a renunciation of all reason, 
and an abjuration of the rational nature of man. 

Together with the question "How," and the in- 
quiry after efficient causes of movement and changes 
in the world, the question "Why" also perpetually 
suggests itself. This is an inquiry into another class 
of the deepest causes of things, viz., final causes. 
Final cause is the same as the end, the design, the 
purpose toward which movements, changes, the 
operation of active forces, efficient causes, are di- 
rected, and which are accomplished by their agency. 

Here the question arises, how the end attained 
as an effect of efficient causality can be properly 
named as a cause. How can it exert a causative in- 
fluence, retroactively, on the means and agencies by 
which it is produced? It is last in the series, and does 
not exist at the beginning or during the progress of 
the events whose final term it is. Nothing can act 
before it exists or gives evidence to itself. Final 
cause does not therefore, act physically like efficient 
causes. It is a cause of the movements which pre- 
cede its real and physical existence, only inasmuch 
as it has an ideal pre-existence in the foresight and 
intention ot an intelligent mind. Regard a master- 
piece of art. It is because the artist conceived the 
idea realized in this piece of work that he employed 
all the means necessary to the fulfillment of his de- 
sired end. This finished work is, therefore, the final 
cause, the motive of the whole series of operations 
performed by the artist or his workmen. 

The multitude of causes and effects in the world, 
reduced to an admirable harmony and unity, con- 
stitutes the order of the universe. In this order 

74 



THE GOD OF PHILOSOPHY 

there is a multifarious arrangement and coordination 
of means to ends, denoting design and purpose, the 
intention and art of a supreme architect and builder, 
who impresses his ideas upon what we may call the 
raw material out of which he forms and fashions the 
worlds which move in space, and their various in- 
numerable contents. From these final causes, as 
ideas and types according to which all movements of 
efficient causality are directed, the argument pro- 
ceeds which demonstrates the nature of the First 
Cause, as in essence, intelligence, and will. 

The best and highest Greek philosophy ascended 
by this cosmological argument to a just and sublime 
conception of God as the supremely wise, powerful, 
and good author of all existing essences in the uni- 
verse, and of all its complex, harmonious order. 
Cicero, the Latin interpreter of Greek philosophy 
with cogent reasoning, and in language of unsur- 
passed beauty, has summarized its best lessons in 
natural theology. In brief, his argument is that 
since the highest human intelligence discovers in 
nature an intelligible object far surpassing its capacity 
of apprehension, the design and construction of the 
whole natural order must proceed from an Author 
of supreme and divine intelligence. 

The questioning and the demand of reason for 
the deepest causes of things is not, however, yet 
entirely and explicitly satisfied. The concept of 
God as the first builder and mover of the universe 
comes short of assigning the first and final cause of 
the underlying subject-matter which receives forma- 
tion and motion. When and what is the first matter 
of our solar nebula? How and why did it come to 

75 



RELIGION AS A SCIENTIFIC STUDY 

be in hand and lie in readiness for the divine archi- 
tect and artist to make it burn and whirl in the 
process of the evolution of sun and planets? Plato 
is understood to have taught that the first matter, 
which is the term receptive of the divine action, is 
self-existing and eternal. 

The metaphysical notion of first matter is, how- 
ever, totally different from the concept of matter, as 
a constant quantity and distinct from force in chem- 
ical science. Metaphysically first matter has no 
specific reality, no quality, no quantity. It is not 
as separate from active force in act, but is only in 
potency. Chemical first matter exists in atoms, 
say of hydrogen, oxygen, or some other substance, 
each of which has definite weight in proportion to 
the weight of different atoms. It would be perfectly 
absurd to imagine that the primitive nebulous vapor 
which furnished the material for the evolution of 
the solar system was in any way like the Platonic 
concept of original chaos. We may call it chaos, 
relative to its later, more developed order. The 
artisan's workshop, full of materials for manufac- 
ture, the edifice which is in its first stage of con- 
struction, are in a comparative disorder, but this 
disorder is an inchoate order. 

So our solar chaos, as an inchoate virtual system, 
was full of initial, elementary principles and elements 
of order. The Platonic first matter was supposed to 
be formless and void, without quality or quantity, 
devoid of every ideal element or aspect, a mere re- 
cipient of ideas which God impressed upon it. The 
undermost matter of chemistry has definite quiddity 
and quantity, is never separate from force, and as it 

76 



THE GOD OF PHILOSOPHY 

was in the primitive solar nebula, was in act and in 
violent activity of motion. It is obvious at a glance 
that a Platonic first matter, existing eternally by its 
own essence, without form, is a mere vacuum, and 
only intelligible under the concept of pure possi- 
bility. Aristotle saw and demonstrated this truth 
clearly. Therefore, the analysis of material exist- 
ences, carried as far as experiment or hypothesis will 
admit, finds nothing except the changeable and the 
contingent. 

Let us suppose that underneath the so-called 
simple substances, such as oxygen and hydrogen, 
there exists, and may hereafter be discerned by 
chemical analysis, some homogeneous basis, there 
still remains something which does not account for 
itself, and which demands a sufficient reason for its 
being in the efficient causality of the first cause. The 
ultimate molecule of the composite substance, and 
the ultimate atom of the simple substance, each bears 
the marks of a manufactured article. Not only the 
order which combines and arranges all the simple 
elements of the corporeal world, but the gathering 
together of the materials for the orderly structure; 
the union and relation of matter and force; the be- 
ginning of the first motions, and the existence of the 
movable element and the motive principle in definite 
quantities and proportions, all demand their origin 
in the intelligence and the will of the first cause. 

In God alone essence and existence are identical. 
He alone exists by the necessity of His nature, and 
is the eternal self-subsisting being. There is nothing 
outside of His essence which is coeval with Him, and 
which presents a real, existing term for His action. 

17 



RELIGION AS A SCIENTIFIC STUDY 

If He wishes to communicate the good of being be- 
yond Himself He must create out of nothing the 
objective terms of His beneficial action. He must 
give first being to the recipients of motion, change, 
and every kind of transition from potency into 
actuality. The first and fundamental transition is 
from not-being, from the absolute non-existence of 
anything outside of God, into being and existence by 
the creative act of God, who called, by His almighty 
word, the world of finite creatures into real existence. 

In this creative act of God the two elements of 
intelligence and volition are necessarily contained. 
Intelligence perceives the possibility of a finite, 
created order of existence, in all its latitude. Possi- 
bility does not, however, make the act of creation 
necessary. It is the free volition of the Creator 
which determines Him to create. It is likewise His 
free volition which determines the limits within which 
He will give real existence and actuality to the pos- 
sible. We have already seen that final causes must 
have an ideal pre-existence in the mind which de- 
signs the work of art and arranges the means for its 
execution. The idea of the actual universe and of 
the wider universe, which He could create if He willed, 
must have been present eternally to the intelligence 
of the divine Creator as possible. 

Now, therefore, a further question about the 
deepest cause of being confronts the mind with an 
imperative demand for an answer. What is this 
eternal possibility which is coeval with God? It is 
evidently an intelligible object, an idea equivalent to 
an infinite number of particular ideas of essences and 
orders, which are thinkable by intellect to a certain 

78 



THE GOD OF PHILOSOPHY 

extent, in proportion to its capacity, and exhaustively 
by the divine intellect. The divine essence is eternal 
and necessary self-subsisting being. In the formula 
of St. Thomas: "Ipsum esse subsistens.'* It is pure 
and perfect act, in the most simple indivisible unity. 

Therefore, in God, as Aristotle demonstrates, in- 
telligent subject and intelligible object are identical. 
Possibility has its foundation in the divine essence. 
God contemplates His own essence, which is the 
plenitude of being, with a comprehensive intelligence. 
In this contemplation He perceives His essence as an 
archetype which eminently and virtually contains an 
infinite multitude of typical essences, capable of 
being made in various modes and degrees a likeness 
to Himself. He sees in the comprehension of His 
omnipotence the power to create whatever He will, 
according to His divine ideas. And this is the total 
ratio of possibility. 

There are the eternal reasons according to which 
the order of nature has been established under fixed 
laws. They are reflected in the works of God. By 
a perception of these reasons these ideas impressed 
on the universe, we ascend from single and particular 
objects up to universal ideas, and finally to the 
knowledge of God as first and final cause. When 
we turn from the contemplation of the visible word 
and sensible objects to the rational creation, the 
sphere of intelligent spirits and of the intellectual 
life in which they live, the argument for a first and 
final cause ascends to a higher plane. The rational 
beings who are known to us, ourselves and our fellow 
man, bear the marks of contingency in their intel- 
lectual nature as plainly as in their bodies. Our in- 

79 



RELIGION AS A SCIENTIFIC STUDY 

dividual, self-conscious, thinking souls have come out 
of non-existence only yesterday. They begin to 
live, with only a dormant intellectual capacity, with- 
out knowledge or the use of reason. The soul brings 
with it no memories and no ideas. It has no im- 
mediate knowledge of itself and its nature. Never- 
theless, the light of intelligence in it is something 
divine, a spark from the source of light, and it indi- 
cates clearly that it has received its being from God. 

In the material things we see the vestiges of the 
Creator, in the rational soul His very image. It is 
capable of apprehending the eternal reasons which 
are in the mind of God; its intelligible object is being 
in all its latitude, according to its specific and finite 
mode of apprehension, and the proportion which 
its cognoscitive faculty has to the thinkable and 
knowable. As contingent beings, intelligent spirits 
come into the universal order of effects from which, 
by the argument a posteriori, the existence of the 
first cause, as supreme intelligence and will is in- 
ferred, and likewise the ideas of necessary and eternal 
truth which, as so many mirrors, reflect the eternal 
reasons of the divine mind, subjectively considered, 
come under the same category as contingent facts 
and effects produced by second causes and ulti- 
mately by the first cause. 

These ideas are not, however, mere subjective 
concepts. They are, indeed, mental concepts, but 
they have a foundation in reality; according to the 
famous formula of St. Thomas: " Universalia sunt 
conceptus mentis cum fundamento in re.'' They are 
originally gained by abstraction from the single ob- 
jects of sensitive cognition; for instance, from single 

80 



THE GOD OF PHILOSOPHY 

things which have a concrete existence, the idea of 
being in general, the most extensive and universal of 
all concepts is gained. So, also, the notions of species 
and genus; of essence and existence; of beauty, good- 
ness, space, and time; of mathematics and ethics. 
But notwithstanding this genesis of abstract and uni- 
versal concepts from concrete, contingent realities, 
they become free from all contingency and depend- 
ence on contingent things, and assume the character 
of necessary and universal, and therefore of eternal 
truths. For instance, that the three sides of a tri- 
angle cannot exist without three angles, is seen to be 
true, supposing there had never been any bodies or 
minds created. There is an intelligible world of 
ideas, super-sensible, and extramental, within the 
scope of intellectual apprehension; they have ob- 
jective reality, and force themselves on the intellect, 
compelling its assent as soon as they are clearly per- 
ceived in their self -evidence or demonstration. 

Now, what are these ideas? Are they some kind 
of real beings, inhabiting an eternal and infinite 
space? This is absurd, and they cannot be con- 
ceived except as thoughts of an eternal and infinite 
mind. In thinking them we are rethinking the 
thoughts of God. They are the eternal reasons re- 
flected in all the works of creation, but especially in 
intelligent minds. From these necessary and eternal 
truths we infer, therefore, the intelligent and intel- 
ligible essence of God in which they have their ulti- 
mate foundation. This metaphysical argument is 
the apex and culmination of the cosmological, moral, 
and in all its forms the a posteriori argument from 
effects, from design, from all reflections of the divine 
• 81 



RELIGION AS A SCIENTIFIC STUDY 

perfections in the creation to the existence and 
nature of the first and final cause of the intellectual, 
moral, and physical order of the universe. It goes 
beyond every other line of argument in one respect. 
From concrete, contingent facts, we infer and demon- 
strate that God does exist. We obtain only a hypo- 
thetical necessity of his existence, i. e., since the 
world does really exist, it must have a Creator. 

The argument from necessary and eternal truths 
gives us a glimpse of the absolute necessity of God's 
existence; it shows us that He must exist, that His 
non-existence is impossible; we rise above contingent 
facts to a consideration of the eternal reasons in the 
intelligible and intelligent essence of God. We do 
not, indeed, perceive these eternal reasons immedi- 
ately in God as divine ideas identical with His essence. 
We have no intuition of the essence of God. God is 
to us inscrutable, incomprehensible, dwelling in light, 
inaccessible. As when the sun is below the horizon 
we perceive clouds illuminated by His rays, and 
moon and planets shining in His reflected light, so 
we see the reflection of God in His works. We per- 
ceive Him immediately, so by the eternal reasons 
which are reflected in nature, in our own intellect, 
and in the ideas which have their foundation in His 
mind. Our mental concepts of the divine are an- 
alogical, derived from created things, and inadequate. 
They are, notwithstanding, true, and give us uner- 
ring knowledge of the deepest causes of being. 
They give us metaphysical certitude that God is. 
They give us also a knowledge of what God is, within 
the limits of our human mode of cognition. 

All these metaphysical concepts of God are 

82 



THE GOD OF PHILOSOPHY 

summed up in the formula of St. Thomas: '*Ipsum 
esse suhsistensy Being in its intrinsic essence sub- 
sisting. He is the being whose reason of real, self- 
subsisting being is in His essence ; He subsists, as being, 
not in any limitation of a particular kind and mode 
of being, but in the whole intelligible ratio of being, 
in every respect which is thinkable and compre- 
hensible by the absolute, infinite intellect. He is 
being in all its longitude, latitude, profundity, and 
plenitude; He is being subsisting in pure and perfect 
act, without any mixture of potentiality or possi- 
bility of change; infinite, eternal, without before or 
after; always being, never becoming; subsisting in an 
absolute present, the now of eternity. Boethius has 
expressed this idea admirably: ''Tola simul ac 
perfecta possessio vitae interminahilis.'^ The total 
and perfect possession, all at once, of boundless life. 
In order, therefore, to enrich and complete our 
conceptions of the nature and perfections of God we 
have only to analyze the comprehensive idea of 
being, and to ascribe to God, in a sense free from all 
limitations, all that we find in His works which come 
under the general idea of being. Being, good, truth, 
are transcendental notions which imply each other. 
They include a multitude of more specific terms, ex- 
pressing every kind of definite concepts of realities 
which are intelligible and desirable. Beauty, splen- 
dor, majesty, moral excellence, beatitude, life, love, 
greatness, power, and every kind of perfection are 
phases and aspects of being, goodness, and truth. 
Since all which presents an object of intellectual ap- 
prehension to the mind and of complacency to the 
will in the effects produced by the first cause must 

83 



RELIGION AS A SCIENTIFIC STUDY 

exist in the cause in a more eminent way, we must 
predicate of the Creator all the perfections found in 
creatures. 

The vastness of the universe represents His im- 
mensity. The multifarious beauties of creatures rep- 
resent His splendor and glory as their archetype. 
The marks of design and the harmonious order which 
are visible in the world manifest His intelligence. The 
faculties of intelligence and will in rational creatures 
show forth in a more perfect image the attributes of 
intellect and will in their author and original source. 
All created goodness, whether physical or moral, pro- 
claims the essential excellence and sanctity of God. He 
is the source of life, and is therefore the living God. 
All the active forces of nature witness to His power. 

All finite beings, however, come infinitely short of 
an adequate representation of their ideal archetype; 
they retain something of the intrinsic nothingness of 
their essence, of its potentiality, changeableness, and 
contingency. Many modes and forms of created ex- 
istence have an imperfection in their essence which 
makes it incompatible with the perfection of the 
divine essence that they should have a formal being 
in God. We cannot call Him a circle, an ocean, or a 
sun. Such creatures, therefore, represent that which 
exists in their archetype in an eminent and divine 
mode, to us incomprehensible. And those qualities 
whose formal ratio in God and creatures is the same, 
being infinite in creatures, must be regarded as raised 
to an infinite power in God. Thus intelligence, will, 
wisdom, sanctity, happiness are formally in God, but 
infinite in their excellence. 

All that we know of God by pure reason is summed 

84 



THE GOD OF PHILOSOPHY 

up by Aristotle in the metaphysical formula that 
God is pure and perfect art, logically and ontologically 
the first principles of all that becomes by a transition 
from potential into actual being. And from this con- 
cise, comprehensive formula He has developed a truly 
admirable theodicy. Aristotle says: "It is evi- 
dent that act (energeia) is anterior to potency (du- 
namis) logically and ontologically. A being does not 
pass from potency into act and become real except 
by the action of a principle already in act." (Met. 
8. 9.) Again, "All that is produced comes from a 
being in act." (De Anim. 3. 7.) 

"There is a being which moves without being 
moved, which is eternal, is substance, is act. . . . 
The immovable mover is necessary being, that is, 
being which absolutely is, and cannot be otherwise. 
This nature, therefore, is the principle from which 
heaven (meaning by this term immortal spirits who 
are the nearest to God) and nature depend. Beati- 
tude is His very act. . . . Contemplation is of 
all things the most delightful and excellent, and God 
enjoys it always, by the intellection of the most ex- 
cellent good, in which intelligence and the intelligible 
are identical. God is life, for the act of intelligence is 
life, and God is this very act. Essential act is the 
life of God, perfect and eternal life. Therefore we 
name God a perfect and eternal living being, in such 
a way that life is uninterrupted; eternal duration 
belongs to God, and indeed it is this which is God." 
(Met. 11. 7.) I have here condensed a long passage 
from Aristotle and inverted the order of some sen- 
tences, but I have given a verbally exact statement 
of his doctrine. 

85 



RELIGION AS A SCIENTIFIC STUDY 

I will add a few sentences from Plotinus, the 
greatest philosopher of the Neo-Platonic school: 
"Just as the sight of the heavens and the brilliant 
stars causes us to look for and to form an idea of 
their author, so the contemplation of the intelligible 
world and the admiration which it inspires lead us to 
look for its father. Who is the one, we exclaim, who 
has given existence to the intelligible world? Where 
and how has He begotten such a child, intelligence, 
this son so beautiful? The supreme intelligence 
must necessarily contain the universal archetype, 
and be itself that intelligible world of which Plato 
discourses." 

Plato and Aristotle have both placed in the 
clearest light the relation of the intelligent, im- 
mortal spirits to God as their final cause, and together 
with this highest relation the subordinate relation of 
all the inferior parts of the universe. Assimilation to 
God, the knowledge and love of God, communication 
in the beatitude which God possesses in Himself, is 
the true reason of being, the true and ultimate end of 
intellectual natures. 

In these two great sages, rational philosophy cul- 
minated. Clement of Alexandria did not hesitate to 
call it a preparation furnished by divine Providence 
to the heathen world for the Christian revelation. 
Whatever controversies there may be concerning 
their explicit teachings in regard to the relations be- 
tween God and the world, their principles and prem- 
ises contain implicitly and virtually a sublime natural 
theology. St. Thomas has corrected, completed, and 
developed this theology, with a genius equal to theirs, 
and with the advantage of a higher illumination. 

86 



THE GOD OF PHILOSOPHY 

It is the highest achievement of human reason to 
bring the intellect to a knowledge of God as the first 
and final cause of the world. The denial of this 
philosophy throws all things into night and chaos, 
ruled over by blind chance or fate. Philosophy, 
however, by itself does not suffice to give to man- 
kind that religion the excellence and necessity of 
which it so brilliantly manifests. Its last lesson is 
the need of a divine revelation. 



87 



CHAPTER V 

The Existence of God 

By Rev. Alfred Williams Momerie, D.D. 

THE evidences for the existence of God may be 
summed up under two heads. First of all, 
there is what I will designate the rationality 
of the world. Under this head, of course, comes the 
old argument from design. It is often supposed that 
the argument from design has been exploded. "Now- 
a-days," said Comte, "the heavens declare no other 
glory than that of Hipparchus, Newton, Kepler, and 
the rest who have found out the laws of their se- 
quence. Our power of foreseeing phenomena and 
our power of controlling them destroy the belief that 
they are governed by changeable wills." Quite so. 
But such a belief — the belief, viz., that phenomena 
were governed by changeable wills — could not be en- 
tertained by any philosophical theist. A really ir- 
regular phenomenon, as Mr. Fiske has said, would be 
a manifestation of sheer diabolism. Philosophical 
theism — belief in a being deservedly called God — 
could not be established until after the uniformity 
of nature had been discovered. We must cease to 
believe in many changeable wills before we can begin 
to believe in one that is unchangeable. We must cease 
to believe in a finite God, outside of nature, who 
capriciously interferes with her phenomena, before 
we can begin to believe in an infinite God, immanent 
nature, of whose mind and will all natural phenomena 

88 



THE EXISTENCE OF GOD 

are the various but never varying expression. Though 
the regularity of nature is not enough by itself to 
prove the existence of God, the irregularity of nature 
would be amply sufficient to disprove it. The uni- 
formity of nature, which, by a curious obscuration of 
the logical faculties, has been used as an atheistic 
argument, is actually the first step in the proof of 
the existence of God. The purposes of a reasonable 
being, just in proportion to his reasonableness, will 
be steadfast and immovable. And in God there is 
no change, neither shadow of turning; He is the same 
yesterday, to-day, and forever. 

There is another scientific doctrine, viz., the doc- 
trine of evolution, which is often supposed to be in- 
compatible with the argument from design. But it 
seems to me that the discovery of the fact of evolu- 
tion was an important step in the proof of the divine 
existence. Evolution has not disproved adaptation; 
it has merely disproved one particular kind of adap- 
tation — the adaptation, viz., of a human artificer. 
In the time of Paley, God was regarded as a great 
Mechanician, spelled with a capital M it is true, but 
employing means and methods for the accomplish- 
ment of His purposes more or less similar to those 
which would be used by a human workman. It was 
believed that every species, every organism, and 
every part of every organism had been individually 
adapted by the Creator for the accomplishment of a 
definite end, just as every portion of a watch is the 
result of a particular act of contrivance on the part 
of the watchmaker. 

A different and far higher method is suggested by 
the doctrine of evolution, a doctrine which may now 

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RELIGION AS A SCIENTIFIC STUDY 

be considered as practically demonstrated, thanks 
especially to the light which has been shed on it by 
the sciences of anatomy, physiology, geology, palae- 
ontology, and embryology. These sciences have 
placed the blood relationship of species beyond a 
doubt. The embryos of existing animals are found 
again and again to bear the closest resemblance to 
extinct species, though in their adult form the re- 
semblance is obscured. Moreover, we frequently 
find in animals rudimentary or abortive organs, 
which are manifestly not adapted to any end, which 
never can be of any use, and whose presence in the 
organism is sometimes positively injurious. There 
are snakes that have rudimentary legs — legs which, 
however interesting to the anatomist, are useless to 
the snake. There are rudiments of fingers in a horse's 
hoof, and of teeth in a whale's mouth, and in man 
himself there is the appendix vermiformis. It is 
manifest, therefore, that any particular organ in one 
species is merely an evolution from a somewhat dif- 
ferent kind of organ in another. It is manifest that 
the species themselves are but transmutations of one 
or a few primordial types, and that they have been 
created not by paroxysm, but by evolution. The 
Creator saw the end from the beginning. He had 
not many conflicting purposes, but one that was gen- 
eral and all embracing. Unity and continuity of 
design serve to demonstrate the wisdom of the de- 
signer. 

The supposition that nature means something by 
what she does has not infrequently led to important 
scientific discoveries. It was in this way that Harvey 
found out the circulation of the blood. He took 

90 



THE EXISTENCE OF GOD 

notice of the valves in the veins in many parts of the 
body, so placed as to give free passage to the blood 
towards the heart, but opposing its passage in the 
contrary direction. Then he bethought himself, to 
use his own words, "that such a provident cause as 
nature had not placed so many valves without a 
design, and the design which seemed most probable 
was that the blood, instead of being sent by these 
veins to the limbs, should go first through the ar- 
teries, and return through other veins whose valves 
did not oppose this course." Thus, apart from the 
supposition of purpose, the greatest discovery in 
physiological science might not have been made. 
And the curious thing is — a circumstance to which I 
would particularly direct your attention — the word 
purpose is constantly employed even by those who 
are most strenuous in denying the reality of the fact. 
The supposition of purpose is used as a working 
hypothesis by the most extreme materialists. The 
recognition of an immanent purpose in our concep- 
tion of nature can be so little dispensed with that we 
find it admitted even by Vogt. Haeckel, in the very 
book in which he says that "the much talked-of pur- 
pose in nature has no existence," defines an organic 
body as "one in which the various parts work to- 
gether for the purpose of producing the phenomenon 
of life." And Hartmann, according to whom the 
universe is the outcome of unconsciousness, speaks of 
"the wisdom of the Unconscious," of "the mechan- 
ical contrivances which It employs," of "the direct 
activity in bringing about complete adaptation to the 
peculiar nature of the case," of "Its incursions into 
the human brain which determine the course of his- 

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RELIGION AS A SCIENTIFIC STUDY 

tory in all departments of civilization in the direction 
of the goal intended by the Unconscious." Purpose 
then has not been eliminated from the universe by 
the discoveries of physical science. These discoveries 
have but intensified and elevated our faith. 

And there is something else to be urged in favor 
of the argument from design. If the world is not due 
to purpose, it must be the result of chance. This 
alternative cannot be avoided by asserting that the 
world is the outcome of law; since law itself must be 
accounted for in one or other of these alternative 
ways. A law of nature explains nothing. It is merely 
a summary of the facts to be explained — merely a 
statement of the way in which things happen; e. g., 
the law of gravitation is the fact that all material 
bodies attract one another, with a force varying di- 
rectly as their mass and inversely as the squares of 
their distances. Now, the fact that bodies attract 
one another in this way cannot be explained by the 
law, for the law is nothing but the precise expression 
of the fact. To say that the gravitation of matter is 
accounted for by the law of gravitation is merely to 
say that matter gravitates because it gravitates. 
And so of the other laws of nature. Taken together 
they are simply the expression, in a set of convenient 
formulae, of all the facts of our experience. The laws 
of nature are the facts of nature summarized. To 
say, then, that nature is explained by law is to say 
that the facts are explained by themselves. The 
question remains. Why are the facts what they are? 
And to this question we can only answer, either 
through purpose or by chance. 

In favor of the latter hypothesis, it may be 

92 



THE EXISTENCE OF GOD 

urged that the appearance of purpose in nature could 
have been produced by chance. Arrangements which 
look intentional may sometimes be purely accidental. 
Something was bound to come of the play of the 
primeval atoms. Why not the particular world in 
which we find ourselves? 

Why not? For this reason. It is only within 
narrow limits that seemingly purposeful arrange- 
ments are accidentally produced. And therefore, as 
the signs of purpose increase, the presumption in 
favor of their accidental origin diminishes. It is the 
most curious phenomenon in the history of thought 
that philosophers who delight in calling themselves 
experiential should have countenanced the theory of 
the accidental origin of the world, a theory with which 
our experience, as far as it goes, is completely out of 
harmony. When only eleven planets were known, 
De Morgan showed that the odds against their mov- 
ing in one direction round the sun with a slight in- 
clination of the planes of their orbits — had chance 
determined the movement — would have been 20,000,- 
000,000 to one. And this movement of the planets 
is but a single item, a tiny detail, an infinitesimal 
fraction in a universe which, notwithstanding all 
arguments to the contrary, still appears to be per- 
vaded through and through with purpose. Let every 
human being now alive upon the earth spend the rest 
of his days and nights in writing down arithmetical 
figures; let the enormous numbers which these figures 
would represent — each number forming a library in 
itself — be all added together; let this result be squared, 
cubed, multiplied by itself 10,000 times, and the 
final product would fall far short of expressing the 

93 



RELIGION AS A SCIENTIFIC STUDY 

probabilities of the world's having been evolved by 
chance. 

But over and above the signs of purpose in the 
world there are other evidences which bear witness 
to its rationality — to its ultimate dependence upon 
mind. We can often detect thought even when we 
fail to detect purpose. "Science," says Lange, 
"starts from the principle of the intelligibleness of 
nature." To interpret is to explain, and nothing 
can be explained that is not in itself rational. Reason 
can only grasp what is reasonable. You cannot ex- 
plain the conduct of a fool. You cannot interpret 
the actions of a lunatic. They are contradictory, 
meaningless, unintelligible. Similarly if nature were 
an irrational system, there would be no possibility of 
knowledge. The interpretation of nature consists in 
making our own the thoughts which nature implies. 
Scientific hypothesis consists in guessing at these 
thoughts; scientific verification in proving that we 
have guessed aright. "O God," said Kepler, when 
he discovered the laws of planetary motion, "O God, 
I think again Thy thoughts after Thee." There 
could be no course of nature, no laws of sequence, 
no possibility of scientific predictions, in a senseless 
play of atoms. But as it is, we know exactly how 
the forces of nature act and how they will continue 
to act. We can express their mode of working in the 
most precise mathematical formulae. Every fresh 
discovery in science reveals anew the order, the law, 
the system — in a word, the reason — which underlies 
material phenomena. And reason is the outcome of 
mind. It is mind in action. 

94 



THE EXISTENCE OF GOD 

Nor is it only within the realm of science that 
we can detect traces of a supreme intelligence. Kant 
and Hegel have shown that the whole of our con- 
scious experience implies the existence of a mind 
other than, but similar to, our own. For students 
of philosophy it is needless to explain this; for others 
it would be impossible within the short time at my 
disposal. Suffice it to say — it has been proved that 
what we call knowledge is due subjectively to the 
constructive activity of our own individual minds, 
and objectively to the constructive activity of an- 
other Mind which is omnipresent and eternal. In 
other words, it has been proved that our limited con- 
sciousness implies the existence of a consciousness 
that is unlimited, that the common, everyday ex- 
perience of each one of us necessitates the increasing 
activity of an infinite Thinker. 

The world, then, is essentially rational. But if 
that were all we could say we should be very far 
from having proved the existence of God. A ques- 
tion still remains for us to answer: Is the Infinite 
Thinker good? I pass on, therefore, to speak briefly 
on the second part of my subject, viz., the progres- 
siveness of the world. The last, the most compre- 
hensive, the most certain word of science is evolu- 
tion. And it is the most hopeful word I know. For 
when we contemplate the suffering and disaster 
around us, we are sometimes tempted to think that 
the great Contriver is indifferent to human welfare. 
But evolution, which is only another word for con- 
tinuous improvement, inspires us with confidence. 
It suggests, indeed, that the Creator is not omnipo- 

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RELIGION AS A SCIENTIFIC STUDY 

tent in the vulgar sense of being able to do impossi- 
bilities; but it also suggests that the difficulties of 
creation are being surely though slowly overcome. 

Now it may be asked, how could there be diffi- 
culties for God? How could the Infinite be limited 
or restrained? Let us see. We are too apt to look 
upon restraint as essentially an evil, to regard it as 
a sign of weakness. This is the greatest mistake. 
Restraint may be an evidence of power, of superi- 
ority, of perfection. Why is poetry so much more 
beautiful than prose? Because of the restraints of 
rhythm. Why is a good man's life so much more 
beautiful than a bad man's? Because of the re- 
straints of conscience? Many things are possible for 
a prose writer which are impossible for a poet; many 
things are possible for a villain which are impossible 
for a man of honor; many things are possible for a 
devil which are impossible for a God. The fact is, 
infinite wisdom and goodness involve nothing less 
than infinite restraint. When we say that God can- 
not do wrong, we virtually admit that He is under a 
moral obligation or necessity. And reflection will 
show that there is another kind of necessity, viz., 
mathematical, by which even the Infinite is bound. 

Do you suppose that Deity could make a square 
with only three sides or a line with only one end? 
Admitting, for the sake of argument, that theoret- 
ically He had the power, do you suppose that under 
any conceivable circumstances He would use it? 
Surely not. It would be prostitution. It would be 
the employment of infinite power for the production 
of what was essentially irrational and absurd. It 
would be the same kind of folly as if some one who 

96 



THE EXISTENCE OF GOD 

was capable of writing a sensible book were delib- 
erately to produce a volume with the words so ar- 
ranged as to convey no earthly meaning. The same 
kind of folly, but far more culpable for the guilt of 
foolishness, increases in proportion to the capacity 
for wisdom. A being, therefore, who attempted to 
reverse the truth of mathematics would not be divine. 
To mathematical necessity Deity itself must yield. 

Similarly in the physical sphere there must be 
restraints equally necessary and equally unalterable. 
It may be safely and reverently affirmed that God 
could not have created a painless world. The Deity 
must have been constrained by His goodness to create 
the best world possible, and a world without suffer- 
ing would have been not better, but worse, than our 
own. For consider. Sometimes pain is needed as a 
warning to preserve us from greater pain — to keep 
us from destruction. If pain had not been attached 
to injurious actions and habits, all sentient beings 
would long ago have passed out of existence. Sup- 
pose, e. g., that fire did not cause pain, we might 
easily be burnt to death before we knew we were in 
danger. Suppose the loss of health were not attended 
with discomfort, we should lack the strongest motive 
for preserving it. And the same is true of the pangs 
of remorse which follow what we call sin. Further, 
pain is necessary for the development of character, 
especially in its higher phases. In some way or 
other, though we cannot exactly tell how, pain acts 
as an intellectual and spiritual stimulus. The world's 
greatest teachers, Dante, Shakespeare, Darwin, e. g., 
have been men who suffered much. Suffering, more- 
over, develops in us pity, mercy, and the spirit of 
t 97 



RELIGION AS A SCIENTIFIC STUDY 

self-sacrifice. It develops in us self-respect, self- 
reliance, and all that is implied in the expression, 
strength of character. In no other way could such a 
character be conceivably acquired. It could not 
have been bestowed upon us by a creative fiat; it is 
essentially the result of personal conflict. Even 
Christ became "perfect through suffering." And 
there is also a further necessity for pain arising from 
the reign of law. 

There is no doubt something awesome in the 
thought of the absolute inviolability of law, in the 
thought that nature goes on her way quite regardless 
of your wishes or of mine. She is so strong and so 
indifferent! The reign of law often entails on indi- 
viduals the direst suffering. But if the Deity inter- 
fered with it He would at once convert the universe 
into chaos. The first requisite for a rational life is 
the certain knowledge that the same effects will 
always follow, and will only follow from the same 
causes, that they will never be miraculously averted, 
that they will never be miraculously produced. It 
seems hard — it is hard — that a mother should lose 
her darling child by accident or disease, and that she 
cannot by any agony of prayer recall the child to 
life. But it would be harder for the world if she 
could. The child has died through a violation of 
some of nature's laws, and if such violation were un- 
attended with death, men would lose the great 
inducement to discover and obey them. It seems 
hard — it is hard — that the man who has taken poison 
by accident dies, as surely as if he had taken it on 
purpose. But it would be harder for the world if he 
did not. If one act of carelessness were ever over- 

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THE EXISTENCE OF GOD 

ruled, the race would cease to feel the necessity for 
care. It seems hard — it is hard — that children are 
made to suffer for their father's crimes. But it 
would be harder for the world if they were not. If 
the penalties of wrongdoing were averted from the 
children, the fathers would lose the best incentive to 
do right. Vicarious suffering has a great part to 
play in the moral development of the world. Each 
individual is apt to think that an exception might be 
made in his favor. But of course that could not be. 
If the laws of nature were broken for one person, 
justice would require that they should be broken for 
thousands, for all. And if only one of nature's laws 
could be proved to have been only once violated, our 
faith in law would be at an end; we should feel that 
we were living in a disorderly universe; we should 
lose the sense of the paramount importance of con- 
duct; we should know that we were the sport of 
chance. 

Pain, therefore, was an unavoidable necessity in 
the creation of the best of all possible worlds. But 
however many and however great were the difficul- 
ties in the Creator's path, the fact of evolution 
makes it certain that they are being gradually over- 
come. And among all changes that have marked its 
progress, none is so palpable, so remarkable, so per- 
sistent as the development of goodness. Evolution 
"makes for righteousness." That would seem to be 
its end always. 

The truth is constantly becoming more apparent, 
on the whole, and in the long run it is not well with 
the wicked; that sooner or later, both in the lives of 
individuals and of nations, good triumphs over evil. 

99 



RELIGION AS A SCIENTIFIC STUDY 

And this tendency toward righteousness, by which 
we find ourselves encompassed, meets with a ready, 
an ever readier, response in our hearts. We cannot 
help respecting goodness, and we have inextinguish- 
able longings for its personal attainment. Notwith- 
standing "sore lets and hindrances," notwithstanding 
the fiercest temptations, notwithstanding the most 
disastrous failures, these yearnings continually re- 
assert themselves with ever-increasing force. We 
feel, we know, that we shall always be dissatisfied 
and unhappy until the tendency within us is brought 
into perfect unison with the tendency without us, 
until we also make for righteousness steadily, un- 
remittingly, and with our whole heart. What is this 
disquietude, what are these yearnings, but the Spirit 
of the universe in communion with our spirits, in- 
spiring us, impelling us, all but forcing us, to become 
co-workers with itself. 

To sum up in one sentence: All knowledge, 
whether practical or scientific, nay, the commonest 
experience of everyday life, implies the existence of a 
Mind which is omnipresent and eternal, while the 
tendency toward righteousness, which is so unmis- 
takably manifest in the course of history, together 
with the response which this tendency awakens in 
our own hearts, combine to prove that the infinite 
Thinker is just and kind and good. It must be 
because He is always with us that we sometimes 
imagine He is nowhere to be found. 



100 



CHAPTER VI 

Proofs of the Existence of God 

By the Hon. W. T. Harris, LL.D., United States 
Commissioner of Education 

THE first thinker who discovered an adequate 
proof of the existence of God was Plato. He 
devoted his Hfe to thinking out the necessary 
conditions of independent being, or, in other words, 
the form of any whole or totality of being. 

Dependent being implies something else than 
itself as that on which it depends. It cannot be said 
to derive its being from another dependent or de- 
rivative being because that has no being of its own 
to lend it. A whole series of connected dependent 
beings must derive their origin and present sub- 
sistence from an independent being — that is to say, 
from what exists in and through itself and imparts 
its being to others or derived beings. Hence the in- 
dependent being, which is presupposed by the de- 
pendent being, is creative and active in the sense 
that it is self-determined and determines others. 

Plato in most passages calls this presupposed in- 
dependent being by the word idea. He is sure that 
there are as many ideas as there are total beings in 
the universe. He reasons that there are two kinds 
of motion — that which is derived from some other 
mover, and that which is derived from self — thus the 
self-moved, and the moved-through-others includes all 
kinds of beings. But the moved-through-others pre- 

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RELIGION AS A SCIENTIFIC STUDY 

supposes the self-moved as the source of its own 
motion. Hence the explanation of all that exists or 
moves must be sought and found in the self-moved. 
(Tenth book of Plato's Laws.) In his dialogue 
named "The Sophist," he argues that ideas or inde- 
pendent beings must possess activity, and, in short, 
be thinking or rational beings. 

This great discovery of the principle that there 
must be independent being if there is dependent 
being is the foundation of philosophy and also of 
theology. Admit that there may be a world of de- 
pendent beings each one of which depends on an- 
other, and no one of them nor all of them depend on 
an independent being, and at once philosophy is 
made impossible and theology deprived of its subject 
matter. But such admission would destroy thought 
itself. 

Let it be assumed, for the sake of considering 
where it would lead, that all existent beings are de- 
pendent; that no one possesses any other being than 
derived being. Then it follows that each one bor- 
rows its being from others that do not have any being 
to lend. Each and all are dependent, and must first 
obtain being from another before they can lend it. 
If it is said that the series of dependent beings is 
such that the last depends upon the first again, so 
that there is a circle of dependent beings, then it 
has to be admitted that the whole circle is inde- 
pendent, and from this strange result it follows that 
the independence of the whole circle of being is some- 
thing transcendent — a negative unity creating and 
then annulling again the particular beings forming 
the members of the series. 

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PROOFS OF THE EXISTENCE OF GOD 

This theory is Illustrated in the doctrine of the 
correlation of forces. The action of force number 
one gives rise to force number two, and so on to the 
end. But this implies that the last of the series gives 
rise to the first one of the series, and the whole be- 
comes a self-determined totality or independent be- 
ing. Moreover, the persistent force is necessarily 
different from any one of the series — it is not heat nor 
light nor electricity nor gravitation, nor any other of 
the series, but the common ground of all, and hence 
not particularized like any one of them. It is the 
general force, whose office is to energize and produce 
the series — organizing one force and annulling it 
again by causing it to pass into another. Thus the 
persistent force is not one of the series, but transcends 
all of the particular forces — they are derivative, it is 
original, independent, and transcendent. It de- 
mands as the next step of explanation the exhibition 
of the necessity of its production of just this series of 
particular forces as involved in the nature of the 
self-determined or absolute force. It involves, too, 
the necessary conclusion that a self-determined force 
which originates all of its special determinations and 
cancels them all is a pure Ego or self-hood. 

For consciousness is the name given by us to 
that kind of being which can annul all of its deter- 
minations. For it can annul all objective determina- 
tions and have left only its own negative might while 
it descends creatively to particular thoughts, voli- 
tions, or feelings. It can drop them instantly by 
turning its gaze upon its pure self as the creator of 
those determinations. This turn upon itself is accom- 
plished by filling its objective field with negation or 

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RELIGION AS A SCIENTIFIC STUDY 

annulment — this is its own act, and therein it realizes 
its personal identity and its personal transcendence 
of limitations. 

Hence we say that the doctrine of correlation of 
forces presupposes a personality creating and tran- 
scending the series of forces correlated. If the mind 
undertakes to suppose a total of dependent or deriva- 
tive beings it ends by reaching an independent, self- 
determined being which, as pure subject, transcends 
its determinations as object, and is therefore an Ego 
or person. 

Again, the insight which established this doctrine 
of independent beings or Platonic "ideas" is not fully 
satisfied when it traces dependent or derivative motion 
back to any intelligent being as its source; there is a 
further step possible, namely, from a world of many 
ideas to an absolute idea as the divine author of all. 

For time and space are of such a nature that all 
beings contained by them — namely, all extended and 
successive beings — are in necessary mutual depend- 
ence, and hence in one unity. This unity of dependent 
beings in time and space demands a one transcendent 
being. Hence the doctrine of the idea of ideas — the 
doctrine of a divine Being, who is rational and per- 
sonal, and who creates beings in time and space in 
order to share His fullness of being with a world of 
created beings — created for the special purpose of 
sharing His blessedness. 

This is the idea of the supreme goodness, and 
Plato comes upon it as the highest thought of his 
system. In the Timaeus he speaks of the absolute as 
being without envy, and therefore as making the 
world as another blessed God. 

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PROOFS OF THE EXISTENCE OF GOD 

In this Platonic system of thought we have the 
first authentic survey of human reason. Human 
reason has two orders of knowing — one the knowing 
of dependent beings, and the other the knowing of 
independent beings. The first is the order of know- 
ing through the senses; the second the order of 
knowing by logical presupposition. I know by see- 
ing, hearing, tasting, touching, things and events. I 
know by seeing what these things and events log- 
ically imply or presuppose, that there is a great first 
cause, a personal Reason who reveals a gracious pur- 
pose by creating finite beings In time and space. 

This must be, or else human reason is at fault in 
its very foundations. This must be so, or else it 
must be that there is dependent being which has 
nothing to depend on. Human reason, then, we may 
say from this insight of Plato, rests upon this knowl- 
edge of transcendental being — a being that transcends 
all determinations of extent and succession, such as 
appertain to space and time, and therefore, that 
transcends both time and space. This transcendent 
being is perfect fullness of being, while the beings in 
time and space are partial or imperfect beings in the 
sense of being embryonic or undeveloped, being par- 
tially realized and partly potential. 

At this point the s^^stem of Aristotle can be under- 
stood in its harmony with the Platonic system. 
Aristotle, too, holds explicitly that the beings in the 
world which derive motion from other beings pre- 
suppose a first mover. But he is careful to eschew 
the first expression self-moved as applying to the 
prime mover. God is Himself unmoved, but He is 
the origin of motion in others. This was doubtless 

105 



RELIGION AS A SCIENTIFIC STUDY 

the true thought of Plato, since he made the divine 
eternal and good. 

In his Metaphysics (book eleventh, chapter seven) 
Aristotle unfolds his doctrine that dependent beings 
presupposes a divine Being whose activity is pure 
knowing. He alone is perfectly realized — the school- 
men call this technically "pure act" — all other being 
is partly potential, not having fully grown to its per- 
fection. Aristotle's proof of the divine existence is 
substantially the same as that of Plato — an ascent 
from dependent being, by the discovery of presuppo- 
sitions, to the perfect being who presupposes nothing 
else — and the identification of the perfect or inde- 
pendent being with thinking, personal, willing being. 

This concept of the divine Being is wholly positive 
as far as it goes, and nothing of it needs to be with- 
drawn after further philosophic reflection has dis- 
cussed anew the logical presuppositions. More pre- 
suppositions may be discovered — new distinctions 
discerned where none were perceived before — but 
those additions only make more certain the funda- 
mental theory explained first by Plato, and subse- 
quently by Aristotle. This may be seen by a glance 
at the theory of Christianity, which unfolds itself in 
the minds of great thinkers of the first six centuries 
of our era. The object of Christian theologians was 
to give unity and system to the new doctrine of the 
divine-human nature of God taught by Christ. They 
discovered, one by one, the logical presuppositions 
and announced them in the creed. 

The Greeks had seen the idea of the Logos or 
Eternally Begotten Son, the Word that was in the 
beginning, and through which created beings arose 

106 



PROOFS OF THE EXISTENCE OF GOD 

in time and space. But how the finite and imperfect 
arose from the infinite and perfect the Greek did not 
understand so well as the Christian. 

The Hindu had given up the solution altogether 
and denied the problem itself. The perfect cannot 
be conceived as making the imperfect — it is too ab- 
surd to think that a good being should make a bad 
being. Only Brahma the absolute exists and all else 
is illusion — it is Maya. 

How the illusion can exist is too much to ex- 
plain. The Hindu has only postponed the problem 
and not set it aside. His philosophy remains in that 
contradiction. The finite, including the Brahman 
himself who philosophizes, is an illusion. An illusion 
recognizes itself as an illusion — an illusion knows 
true being and discriminates itself from false being. 
Such is the fundamental doctrine of the Sankhya 
philosophy, and the Sankhya is the fundamental 
type of all Hindu thought. 

The Greek escapes from this contradiction. He 
sees that the absolute cannot be empty, indetermi- 
nate pure being devoid of all attributes, without 
consciousness. Plato and Aristotle see that the 
absolute must be pure form — that is to say, an ac- 
tivity which gives form to itself — a self-determined 
being with subject and object the same, hence a self- 
knowing and self-willed being. Hence the absolute 
cannot be an abstract unity like Brahma, but must 
be a self-determined or a unity that gives rise to 
duality within itself and recovers its unity and re- 
stores it by recognizing itself in its object. 

The absolute as subject is the first — the absolute 
as object is the second. It is Logos. God's object 

107 



RELIGION AS A SCIENTIFIC STUDY 

must exist for all eternity, because He is always a 
person and conscious. But it is very important to 
recognize that the Logos, God's object, is Himself 
and hence equal to Himself, and also self-conscious. 
It is not the world in time and space. To hold that 
God thinks Himself as the world is pantheism — it is 
pantheism of the left wing of the Hegelians. 

To say that God thinks Himself as the world is to 
say that He discovers in Himself finite and perishable 
forms, and therefore makes them objective. , The 
schoolmen say truly that in God intellect and will 
are one. This means that in God his thinking makes 
objectively existent what it thinks. Plato saw clearly 
that the Logos is perfect and not a world of change 
and decay. He could not explain how the world of 
change and decay is derived, except from the good- 
ness of the divine Being who imparts gratuitously of 
His fullness of being to a series of creatures who have 
being only in part. 

But the Christian thinking adds two new ideas 
to the two already found by Plato. It adds to the 
divine first and the second (the Logos) also a divine 
third, the Holy Spirit, and a fourth not divine, but 
the process of the third — calling it the processio. This 
idea of process explains the existence of a world of 
finite beings, for it contains evolution, development 
or derivation. And evolution implies the existence 
of degrees of less and more perfection of growth. 
The procession thus must be in time, but the time 
process must have eternally gone on, because the 
third has eternally proceeded and been proceeding. 

The thought underneath this theory is evidently 
that the Second Person, or Logos, in knowing Himself 

108 



PROOFS OF THE EXISTENCE OF GOD 

or in being conscious knows Himself in two phases, 
first, as completely generated or perfect, and this is 
the Holy Spirit; and, secondly. He knows Himself as 
related to the first as His eternal origin. In thinking 
of His origin or genesis from the Father, He makes 
objective a complete world of evolution containing at 
all times all degrees of development or evolution, and 
covering every degree of imperfection from pure 
space and time up to the invisible church. 

This recognition of His derivation is also a recog- 
nition on the part of the First of His own act of 
generating the Second — it is not going on, but has 
been eternally completed, and yet both the Divine 
First and the Divine Second must think it when they 
think of their relation to one another. Recognition 
is the intellectual of the First, and Second is the 
mutual love of the Father and the Son, and this 
mutual love is the procession of the Holy Spirit. 

But the procession is not a part of the Holy 
Trinity; it is the creation in time and space of an 
infinite world of imperfect beings, developing into 
self-activity and self-active organizing institutions — 
the family, civil society, the State, and the Church. 
The Church is the New Jerusalem described by St. 
John, the apostle, who has revealed this doctrine of 
the third person as an institutional person — the 
Spirit who makes possible all institutional organism 
in the world, and who transcends them all as the 
perfect who energizes in the imperfect to develop it 
and complete it. 

Thus stated, the Christian thought expressed in 
the symbol of the Holy Trinity explains fully the 
relations of the world of imperfect beings, and makes 

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RELIGION AS A SCIENTIFIC STUDY 

clear in what way the goodness or grace of God 
makes the world as Plato and Aristotle taught. 

The world is a manifestation of divine grace — a 
spectacle of the evolution or becoming of individual 
existence in all phases, inorganic and organic. Indi- 
viduality begins to appear even in specific gravity, 
and in ascending degrees in cohesion and crystalliza- 
tion. In the plant it is unmistakable. In the animal 
it begins to feel and perceive itself. In man it arrives 
at self-consciousness and moral action, and recog- 
nizes its own place in the universe. 

God, being without envy, does not grudge any 
good ; He accordingly turns, as Rothe says, the empti- 
ness of non-being into a reflection of Himself, and 
makes it everywhere a spectacle of His grace. 

Of the famous proofs of divine existence, St. 
Anselm's holds the first place. But St. Anselm's 
proof cannot be understood without recurring to the 
insight of Plato. In his Proslogium, St. Anselm finds 
that there is but one thought which underlies all 
others — one thought universally presupposed, and 
this he describes as the thought of that than which 
there can be nothing greater. ''Id quo nihil majus 
cognitari potest.** This assuredly is Plato's thought 
of the totality. Everything not a total is less than 
the totality. But the totality is the greatest possible 
being. 

The essential thing to notice, however, is that 
St. Anselm perceives that this one thought is objec- 
tively valid and not a mere subjective notion of the 
thinker. No thinker can doubt that there is a totality 
— he can be perfectly sure that the me plus the not-me 
includes all that there is. Gaunilo, in the lifetime of 

110 



PROOFS OF THE EXISTENCE OF GOD 

St. Anselm, and Kant in recent times, have tried to 
refute the argument by alleging the general propo- 
sition — the conception of a thing does not imply its 
corresponding existence. The proposition is true, 
except in the case of this one ontological thought of 
the totality of the thoughts that can be logically de- 
duced from it. The second order of knowing, by 
presumptions, implies an existence corresponding to 
each concept. St. Anselm knew that the person who 
denied the objective validity of this idea of the 
totality must presuppose its truth right in the very 
act of denying it. If there be an Ego that thinks, 
even if it be the Ego of a fool (insipiens) who says in 
his heart, ''There is no God," it must be certain that 
its self plus its not-self makes a totality and that 
this totality surely exists. The existence of his Ego 
is or may be contingent, but the totality is certainly 
not contingent but necessary. This is an ontological 
necessity and the basis of all further philosophical 
and theological thoughts. 

St. Anselm does not, it is true, follow out this 
thought to its consummation in his Proslogium nor 
in his Monologium. He leaves it there with the idea 
of a necessary Being who is supreme and perfect be- 
cause He contains the fullness of being. 

He undoubtedly saw the further implication, 
namely, that the totality is an independent being and 
self-existent because it is self-active. He saw this so 
clearly that he did not think it worth while to stop 
and unfold it. But he did speak of it as a necessary 
existence contrasted with a contingent existence. 
''Everything else besides God," he says, "can be con- 
ceived not to exist." 

Ill 



RELIGION AS A SCIENTIFIC STUDY 

Descartes, in his Third Meditation, has repeated 
with some modification the demonstration of St. 
Anselm. He holds, in substance, that the idea of a 
perfect being is not subjective, but objective — we see 
that he is dealing with the necessary objectivity of 
the idea of totality. The expression "perfect being" 
is entirely misunderstood by most writers in the his- 
tory of philosophy — it must be taken only in the 
sense of independent being — being for himself — being 
that can be what it is without support from another 
— hence perfectly self-determined being. The ex- 
pression "perfect" points directly to Aristotle's in- 
vented word, entelechy, whose literal meaning is the 
having of perfection itself. The word is invented to 
express the thought of the independent presupposed 
by dependent being. 

Perfect being, as Aristotle teaches, is pure energy 
— all of his potentialities are realized — hence it is 
not subject to change nor is it passive or recipient 
of anything from without — it is pure form, or rather 
self-formative. Read in the light of Plato's idea and 
Aristotle's entelechy, St. Anselm's and Descartes' 
proofs are clear and intelligible, and are not touched 
by Kant's criticism. In his philosophy of religion 
and elsewhere, Hegel has pointed out the source of 
Kant's misapprehension. Gaunilo instanced the 
island Atlantis as a conception which does not 
imply a corresponding reality. Kant instanced a 
hundred dollars as a conception which did not imply 
a corresponding reality in his pocket. But neither 
the island Atlantis nor any other island, neither 
a hundred dollars — in short, no finite dependent be- 
ing is at all a necessary being, and hence cannot be 

112 



PROOFS OF THE EXISTENCE OF GOD 

deduced from its concept. But each and every con- 
tingent being presupposes the existence of an inde- 
pendent being — a self-determined being — an absolute 
divine reason. 

St. Anselm proved the depth of his thought by 
advancing a new theory of the death of Christ as a 
satisfaction, not of the claims of the devil, but as the 
satisfaction of the claims of God's justice for sin. 
Although we do not trace out his full thought in the 
Proslogium we can see the depth and clearness of his 
thinking in this new theory of atonement. For in 
order to understand it philosophically, the thinker 
must make clear to himself the logical necessity for 
the exclusion of all forms of finitude or dependent 
being from the thought of the Divine reason who 
knows Himself in the Logos. To think an imperfec- 
tion is to annul it — hence God's thought of an im- 
perfect being annuls it. This logical statement cor- 
responds to the political definition of the idea of 
justice. 

Justice gives to a being its dues — it completes it 
by adding to it what it lacks. Add to an imperfect 
being what it lacks and you destroy its individuality. 
This is justice instead of grace. Grace bears with the 
imperfect being until it completes itself by its own 
acts of self-determination. But, in order that a world 
of imperfect beings, sinners, may have this field of 
probation, a perfect being must bear their imperfec- 
tion. The Divine Logos must harbor in His thought 
all the stages of genesis or becoming, and thereby 
endow beings in a finite world with reality and exist- 
ence. Thus the conception of St. Anselm was a deep 
and true insight. 

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RELIGION AS A SCIENTIFIC STUDY 

The older view of Christ's atonement, as a ran- 
som paid to Satan, is not so irrational as it seems, if 
we divest it of the personification which figures the 
negative as a co-ordinate person with God. God 
only is absolute person. His pure not-me is chaos, 
but not a personal devil. In order that God's grace 
shall have the highest possible manifestation, He 
turns His not-me into a reflection of Himself by 
making it a series of ascending stages out of de- 
pendence and nonentity into independence and per- 
sonal individuality. But the process of reflection by 
creation in time and space involves God's tenderness 
and long-suff"ering — it involves a real sacrifice in the 
Divine being — for He must hold and sustain in exist- 
ence by His creative thought the various stages of 
organic beings — plants and animals are mere carica- 
tures of the Divine — then it must support and nour- 
ish humanity in its wickedness and sin — a deeper 
alienation than even that of minerals, plants, and 
animals, because it is a willful alienation of a higher 
order of beings. 

Self-sacrificing love is, therefore, the concept of 
the atonement; it is, in fact, the true concept of the 
divine gift of being of finite things; it is not merely 
religion, it is philosophy and necessary truth. But it 
is very important so to conceive Nature as not to 
attach it to the idea of God by them in Himself ; such 
an idea is pantheism. Nature does not form a per- 
son of the Trinity. It is not the Logos, as supposed 
by the left wing of the Hegelians. And yet, on the 
other hand, nature is not an accident in God's pur- 
poses as conceived by theologians who react too far 
from the pantheistic view. Nature is eternal, but 

114 



PROOFS OF THE EXISTENCE OF GOD 

not self-existent; it is the procession of the Holy 
Spirit, and arises in the double thought of the first 
Person and the Logos, or the timeless generation 
which is logically involved in the fact of God's con- 
sciousness of Himself as eternal reason. 

The thought of God is a regressive thought — it is 
an ascent from the dependent to that on which it 
depends. It is called dialectical by Plato in the sixth 
Book of the Republic. "The Dialectic method," 
says he, "ascends from what has a mere contingent 
or hypothetic existence, to the first principle, by 
proving the insufficiency of all except the first prin- 
ciple." 

This is the second order of knowing — the discovery 
of the ontological presuppositions. The first order of 
knowing sees things and events by the aid of the 
senses, the second order of knowing sees the first 
cause. The first order of knowing attains to a knowl- 
edge of the perishable, the second order attains to 
the imperishable. The idea of God is, as Kant has 
explained, the supreme directive or regulative idea in 
the mind. It is, moreover, as Plato and St. Anselm 
saw, the most certain of all our ideas, the light in all 
our seeing. 



115 



CHAPTER VII 

Doubts Concerning God 

I ALLOW you to doubt all things if you wish, till 
you come to the point where doubt denies itself. 
Doubt is an act of intelligence; only an intelligent 
agent can doubt. It as much demands intellect 
to doubt as it does to believe; to deny, as it does to 
affirm. Universal doubt is, therefore, an impossi- 
bility; for doubt cannot, if it would, doubt the in- 
telligence that doubts, since to doubt that would be 
to doubt itself. You cannot doubt that you doubt; 
and then, if you doubt, you know that you doubt, 
and there is one thing at least you do not doubt; 
namely, that you doubt. To doubt the intelligence 
that doubts would be to doubt that you doubt; for 
without intelligence there can be no more doubt than 
belief. Intelligence, then, you must assert; for with- 
out intelligence you cannot even deny intelligence, 
and the denial of intelligence by intelligence contra- 
dicts itself and affirms intelligence in the very act of 
denying it. Doubt, then, as much as you will, you 
must still affirm intelligence as the condition of 
doubting, or of asserting the possibility of doubts; 
for what is not cannot act. 

"This much, then, is certain, that however far 
you may be disposed to carry your denials, you 
cannot carry them so far as to deny intelligence, be- 
cause that would be denial of denial itself. Then you 
must concede intelligence, and then whatever is 
essential to the reality of intelligence. In conceding 
anything you concede necessarily all that by which 
it is what it is, and without which it could not be 
what it is. Intelligence is inconceivable without the 
intelligible, or some object capable of being known. 

116 



DOUBTS CONCERNING GOD 

So, in conceding intelligence, you necessarily concede 
the intelligible. The intelligible is, therefore, some- 
thing which is, is being, real being, too — not merely 
abstract or possible being; for without the real, there 
is and can be no possible or abstract. The abstract, 
in that it is abstract, is nothing, and therefore unin- 
telligible; that is to say, no object of knowledge or of 
the intellect. The possible, as possible, is nothing 
but the power or ability of the real, and is appre- 
hensible only in that, power or ability. In itself, 
abstracted from the real, it is pure nullity, has no 
being, no existence, is not, and therefore is unin- 
telligible, no object of intelligence or of intellect — on 
the principle that what is not is not intelligible. Con- 
sequently, to the reality of intelligence a real intelli- 
gence is necessary; and since the reality of intelligence 
is undeniable, the intelligible must be asserted, and 
asserted as real, not as abstract or merely possible 
being. You are obliged to assert intelligence; but 
you cannot assert intelligence without asserting the 
intelligible, and you cannot assert the intelligible 
without asserting something that really is; that is, 
without asserting real being. The real being thus 
asserted is either necessary and eternal being, being 
in itself, subsisting by and from itself, or it is con- 
tingent, and therefore created being. One or the 
other we must say; for being, which is neither neces- 
sary nor contingent, or which is both at once, is 
inconceivable, and cannot be asserted or supposed. 
"Whatever is, in any sense, is either necessary 
and eternal, or contingent and created — is either being 
in itself, absolute being, or existence dependent on 
another for its being, and therefore is not without 
the necessary and eternal, on which it depends. If 
you say it is necessary and eternal being, you say it 
is God; if you say it is contingent being, you still 
assert the necessary and eternal, therefore God, be- 
cause the contingent is neither possible nor intelligible 
without the necessary and eternal. The contingent, 

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RELIGION AS A SCIENTIFIC STUDY 

since it is or has its being only in the necessary and 
eternal, and since what is not is not intelligible, is 
intelligible as the contingent only in necessary and 
eternal being — the intelligible in itself, in which it has 
its being, and therefore its intelligibility. So in each 
case you cannot assert the intelligible without as- 
serting necessary and eternal being; and therefore 
since necessary and eternal being is God, without 
asserting God, or that God is; and since you must 
assert intelligence even to deny it, it follows that in 
every act of intelligence God is asserted, and that it 
is impossible without self-contradiction to deny his 
existence. 

"If reason demands that the creation of all things 
should be ascribed to God, to whom or to what are we 
to ascribe their conservation? The scoffer calls our 
attention to the fact that 'all things continue as they 
were from the beginning of the creation.' Let him 
explain to us how it comes to pass that they do so. 
Why is it that for so many hundred years fire has 
always burned and water moistened, and that the 
sky has been blue and the snow white? How is it 
that we never wake up some morning to find that 
in the night there has been a fall of blue snow? How 
is it that this vast earth has swept through space 
with inconceivable velocity for so many thousands 
of years without once swerving from its course or 
increasing or diminishing its distance from the sun? 
Is it by accident that the seasons succeed each other 
with unvarying regularity, so that we never have 
two summers or two winters together? Or, to come 
to myself, how is it that my heart throbs and my 
pulses beat year after year; that food nourishes and 
sleep refreshes me? Let the scoffer, I repeat, explain 
to us how it comes to pass that 'all things continue 
as they were from the beginning of the creation,' 
and that all the events of nature occur with such 
undeviating regularity, if behind all the forces of 

118 



THOUGHTS CONCERNING GOD 

nature there is no God to inspire, guide, and control 
them. 

"Does it make any difference to the force of this 
argument that no man has seen God at any time? 
Because God is hidden from us, shall we therefore 
refuse to believe that it is by Him that all the events 
of nature are controlled? Suppose that from some 
elevated position I could have surveyed the Amer- 
ican armies marching on to Berlin, cavalry, infantry, 
artillery, baggage- wagons, ambulances, all converging 
to one spot: Would it have been reasonable or un- 
reasonable, scientific or unscientific, to believe that 
they were all obeying the orders of one commander- 
in-chief? Would sound reason have demanded that 
I should refuse to believe this until I had actually 
sat in General Foch's tent and heard him giving his 
directions, and looked over his shoulder as he penned 
his orders? But if the orderly march of an army 
without some master mind to direct it is inconceiv- 
able, what shall we say of the harmonious progress, 
age after age, of the mighty forces of the universe? 
Is there not behind them One who directs and con- 
trols all their movements?" 



Thoughts Concerning God 

"Is it thinkable that at the end there should be 
something in the result which has not been present in 
some fashion in the cause? Can spirit arise out of 
spiritless matter? That would be the greatest of 
world riddles. Hence it may properly be said that 
the law-abiding order and development of nature 
and history, this fundamental thought of science, does 
not exclude the belief in God, but rather demands it 
for its own foundation. Thus is the harmonization 
of science and religion made certain." (Dr. Otto 
Pfleiderer.) 

119 



RELIGION AS A SCIENTIFIC STUDY 

Tennyson represents Akbar as saying in his 
dreams : 

I dreamed 
That stone by stone I reared a sacred fane, 
A temple; neither Pagod, Mosque, nor Church, 
But loftier, simpler, always open-doored 
To every breath from heaven : and 

Truth and Peace 
And Love and Justice came and dwelt therein. 

He also quotes this inscription which he found on 
a temple in Kashmier: 

O God, in every temple I see people that see Thee, 

And in every language I hear spoken, people praise Thee. 

"It is impossible for that man to despair who 
remembers his helper is omnipotent." — Jeremy Taylor. 

There is an eye that never sleeps 

Beneath the wing of night; 
There is an ear that never shuts, 

When sinks the beams of light; 
There is an arm that never tires, 

When human strength gives way; 
There is a love that never fails, 

When earthly loves decay. 

"We are all tall enough to reach God's hand and 
angels are no taller," 

"God can write straight on crooked lines." 

Spurgeon said to a skeptical friend, "I can come 
as near defining God as you can a cornstalk." Then 
the famous preacher says: 

120 



THOUGHTS CONCERNING GOD 

When my dim reason would demand 

Why that or this Thou dost ordain, 
By some vast deep I seem to stand, 

Whose secrets I must ask in vain. 
Be this my joy that evermore 

Thou rulest all things at Thy will: 
Thy sovereign wisdom I adore, 

And calmly, sweetly trust Thee still. 

Aristotle says: 

"If there were beings who had always lived under 
ground in magnificent dwellings, adorned with 
statues and pictures and everything which belongs to 
prosperous life; if, then, these beings should be told 
of the being and power of God and should come up 
through open fissures from their secret abodes to 
the places which we inhabit; if they should suddenly 
behold the starry heavens, the changing moon, the 
rising and setting of the stars, and their eternally 
ordained and unchangeable courses, they would ex- 
claim with truth, there are gods and such great 
things are their works." 

In wireless telegraphy the receiver must be in 
perfect tune with the transmitter or there is no 
message. Every person is in tune with something — 
some to the dollar, society, flattery, and the response 
is immediate. Are we in tune with God so as to get 
answers? 

An Atheist placed over his door: "God is no- 
where." A little girl spelled it out: "God is now 
here." 

"A belief in a supreme power and a sense of de- 
pendence are elements of human nature. 'Religious 
ideas of one kind or other,' says Mr. Herbert Spencer, 

121 



RELIGION AS A SCIENTIFIC STUDY 

'are almost universal. . . . The universality of 
religious ideas, their independent evolution among 
different primitive races, and their great vitality 
unite in showing their source must be deep-seated 
instead of superficial.' 'Of Religion, then, we must 
always remember that amid its many errors and 
corruptions it has asserted and diffused a supreme 
verity. From the first, the recognition of this su- 
preme verity, in however imperfect a manner, has 
been its vital element; and its various defects, once 
extreme, but gradually diminishing, have been so 
many failures to recognize in full that which is rec- 
ognized in part. The truly religious element of 
Religion has always been good; that which has 
proved untenable in doctrine and vicious in practice 
has been its irreligious element; and from this it has 
been ever undergoing purification.' The testimony 
of the chief of the Agnostics to the universality of 
religious ideas and sentiments will not need con- 
firmation." — Rev. Washington Gladden, D.D. 

Job says, "Speak to the earth and it shall teach 
thee." 

Shakespeare says: 

And when our life, exempt from public haunt, 
Finds tongues in trees, books in running brooks, 
Sermons in stones, and good in everything. 

Tennyson says: 

Flower in the crannied wall, 

I pluck you out of the crannies. 

I hold you here, root and all, in my hand, 

Little flower, — but if I could understand 

What you are, root and all, and all in all, 

I should know what God and Man is. 

122 



CHAPTER VIII 

Immortality 

IT was the red-letter day of the Campmeeting. 
The audience was large, the day was perfect, 
and the sermon was eloquent and inspiring. 
Dr. Chapman had stressed the idea that there would 
be no "night in heaven," and had painted in glowing 
colors the beauties of the Immortal Life. 

As Mr. D passed my cottage he paused to 

discuss the sermon, which he disapproved. He said, 
"I don't believe in all this talk about immortality; 
when we are dead that ends all." I reminded him 
that a belief in God, worship, and immortality were 
necessary to religion, and tried to show him that in 
denying immortality he was denying what many of 
the wisest men who have lived have believed and 
taught. This proposition he denied. So, when he 
made a second visit for the purpose of arguing the 
question, I handed him written proofs of my state- 
ment. Cicero said: "O glorious day, when I shall 
go to that divine assembly and company of spirits, 
and when I shall depart out of this bustle, this sink 
of corruption; for I shall go not only to those great 
men of whom I have spoken before, but also to my 
dear Cato (his son), than whom there never was a 
better man, or one more excellent in filial affection, 
whose funeral rites were performed by me, when the 
contrary was natural, namely, that mine should be 
performed by him. His soul not desiring me, but 
looking back on me, has departed into those glorious 
regions where he saw that I myself must come; and 
I seem to bear firmly my affliction, not because I 

123 



RELIGION AS A SCIENTIFIC STUDY 

did not grieve for it, but I comforted myself by think- 
ing that the separation and parting between us 
would not be for long duration." 

"Socrates was no less earnest in his belief in the 
immortality of the soul and a state of future retribu- 
tion. He had reverently listened to the intuition of 
his own soul — the instinctive longing and aspira- 
tions of his own heart as a revelation from God. He 
felt that immortality was the only appropriate destiny 
of man. He was the first to place the doctrine of 
immortality on a philosophical basis." 

Plato argued: 

1. "The soul is immortal, because it is incor- 
poral." 

2. "The soul is immortal, because it has an in- 
dependent power of self-motion." 

3. "The soul is immortal, because it possesses 
universal necessity and absolute ideas." 

The great philosopher, Thomas Dick, regarded 
the doctrine of immortality as the foundation of all 
religion. He gave ten reasons for accepting the doc- 
trine, which are here summarized: 

1. The universal belief which this doctrine has 
obtained among all nations. 

2. The strong desire for immortality implanted 
in the human breast will be gratified, or the Creator 
takes delight in tantalizing His creatures, which is a 
contradiction to every just conception of the Deity. 

3. Man's capacious intellectual and moral powers 
and aspirations demand an uncontracted sphere and 
boundless duration of time for their complete activity 
and development. 

4. The unlimited range of view which is open to 
the human mind through the immensity of space 
and duration, and the knowledge which may be 
acquired respecting the distant regions of the uni- 

124 



IMMORTALITY 

verse are strong presumptive evidence of the eternal 
destination of man. 

5. The moral nature of man shows his dignity 
and grandeur and indicates his higher destiny and 
eternal existence. 

6. The terrible forebodings of remorse often ex- 
perienced by men like Belshazzar, Tiberius, and many 
others are intimations of coming retributions. 

7. The disordered condition of things in the 
moral world, as compared with the harmony of the 
material, argues another state in which perfect moral 
order will prevail. If there is a supreme intelligence 
presiding over the affairs of the universe, the present 
state is only a small part of a great and all- wise plan. 

8. The unequal distribution of rewards and 
punishments calls for a future world in which equity 
shall be established and a visible distinction made 
between the righteous and the wicked. 

9. There is no proof of annihilation in the 
material world, and it is simply absurd to suppose 
that the immaterial or thinking principle of man 
will come to an end. 

10. The gloomy and absurd consequences in- 
volved in the denial of immortality are endless and 
boundless, while an acknowledgment of the doctrine 
unravels the mazes of the divine dispensation and 
solves every difficulty in relation to the present 
condition of man. 

In the beautiful drama of Ion, the hope of im- 
mortality is eloquently uttered by the dying Greek 
and finds response in every loving heart. When about 
to yield his life a sacrifice to fate, his Clemanthe asked 
if they should meet again and he responded: *T 
have asked that dreadful question of the hills that 
look eternal, of the clear streams that flow on for- 
ever, of stars among whose fields of azure my raised 

125 



RELIGION AS A SCIENTIFIC STUDY 

spirits have walked in glory — all were dumb. But 
as I gaze upon thy living face, I feel that there is 
something in thy love that cannot perish. Yes, 
Clemanthe, we shall meet again." 

Max Muller said: "Without a belief in immor- 
tality, religion is like an arch resting on one pillar, 
like a bridge ending in an abyss." 

In one of Cicero's orations is the suggestive sen- 
tence: "If I am wrong in believing the soul of man 
immortal, I please myself in my mistake; nor while 
I live will I choose that this opinion be wrested from 
me; for in the thought I have constant delight." 

Bishop Warren said: 

"When Uranus hastened in one part of its orbit, 
and then retarded, and swung too wide, we said 
there must be another attracting world beyond; and, 
looking there, Neptune was found. So when indi- 
vidual men are so strong that nations or armies 
cannot break down their wills, so brave that lions 
have no terror, so holy that temptations cannot 
allure or sin defile them, so grand in thought that 
men cannot follow them, so pure in walk that God 
walks with them, let us infer an attracting world, 
high and pure and strong as heaven." 

The soul's instinct is an unanswerable argument 
for immortality. There is not an instance in all 
nature of God disappointing an instinct. The in- 
stinct of the bird to go South is matched by the 
South. There are no half hinges in nature — the half 
always has another half to match it. God would not 
put a lie in our instincts and then expect us to be 
truthful. 

Victor Hugo said: 

126 



IMMORTALITY 

"I am like a forest once cut down: the new shoots 
are stronger and livelier than ever. I am rising, I 
know, toward the sky. The sunshine is on my head. 
The earth gives me its generous sun, but heaven 
lights me with the reflection of unknown worlds. 
You say the soul is nothing but the resultant of the 
bodily powers. Why, then, is my soul more luminous 
when my bodily powers begin to fail? Winter is on 
my head, but eternal spring is in my heart. There 
I breathe at this hour the fragrance of the lilacs, the 
violets, and the roses as at twenty years. The 
nearer I approach the end, the plainer I hear around 
me the immortal symphonies of the world which 
invite me. It is marvelous, yet simple. It is a fairy 
tale and it is history 

"For half a century I have been writing my 
thoughts in prose and in verse; history, philosophy, 
drama, romance, tradition, satire, ode, and song — I 
have tried it all. But I feel I have not said the 
thousandth part of what is in me. When I go down 
to the grave I can say, like so many others, 'I have 
finished my day's work.' But I cannot say, 'I have 
finished my life.* My day's work will begin again 
the next morning. The tomb is not a blind alley; it 
is a thoroughfare. It closes on the twilight; it opens 
with the dawn." 

Dr. C. H. Payne said: 

"Once admit that life must end to-morrow, and 
there is nothing of worth in it to-day. The life that 
is must be indissolubly joined to that which is to be. 
The only inspiring light that shines in the here is 
reflected from the hereafter. What value does this 
stupendous factor add to human life? Infinite, rec- 
ompensing Future! How it answers all our questions, 
solves all our problems, quenches all our doubts, 
silences all our moans, and is the resurrection of its 
buried joys! Glorious immortality that sheds fade- 
less luster on the midnight gloom!" 

127 



RELIGION AS A SCIENTIFIC STUDY 

Dr. H. Martensen said: 

"Immortality is the unconditional destiny of all 
men, for man was so created that immortality is a 
necessity of his nature; but this by no means argues 
the eternal happiness of all men. Eternal happiness 
is the result of having been born into the spiritual 
life, while immortality is an inseparable part of man's 
nature as he came from the hands of his Creator. 

"The same reasons which led to the creation of 
human beings demand their continuance. God is 
not a mere model builder who will go on age after 
age experimenting. Just as He has created us He will 
preserve us. 

"The battle in which we are engaged is tedious 
and hard, and the final results are certain only to the 
eye of faith. I will take my stand by the side of 
every patriot; by the side of every martyr who died 
for the truth ; by the side of every missionary ; by the 
side of all who have wiped away tears of sorrow; by 
the side of all who have tried to push back the shadows 
of night, and, standing there by the heart life of the 
world, I ask in the name of human reason, are all 
these longings and heartaches to go for naught? 
Philosophy, common sense, the Bible, and the heart- 
aches answer 'No.' " 

F. W. Robertson said: 

"Every natural longing has its natural satisfac- 
tion. If we thirst, God created liquids to satisfy 
thirst. If we are susceptible of attachment, there 
are beings to gratify that love. If we thirst for life 
and love that is eternal, it is likely that there are an 
eternal life and an eternal love to satisfy that craving." 

A solemn murmur in the soul 

Tells of a world to be; 
As travelers hear the billows roll, 

Before they reach the sea. 

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IMMORTALITY 

"The perpetual advancement of the soul betokens 
its immortahty, and assures us the crowning folly of 
the world would be its fading into nothingness. God 
would give no such talents and possibilities if they 
were not to be fulfilled and gratified." — Joseph 
Addison. 

Dr. Luthardt said: 

"The very existence of the idea of immortality 
is a proof of its truth, for experience shows us only 
death and transitiveness. Whence, then, do we get 
the notion of immortality? If our soul did not bear 
imperishable existence with it, it would not have the 
notion of imperishableness. 

"We call ourselves mortals. Why? Because we 
know ourselves to be immortal, and, therefore, need 
to be constantly reminding ourselves of the earthly 
relationship. 

"This consciousness of immortality is itself a 
proof of its truth. 

"Nothing but the hope of immortality explains 
the mystery of my being." 

Tennyson says: 

Sunset and evening star 

And one clear call for me, 
And may there be no moaning of the bar, 

When I put out to sea. 
For though from out the bourne of Time and Place 

The flood may bear me far, 
I hope to see my Pilot face to face 

When I have crossed the bar. 

Cato said: 

"It must be so, Plato, thou reasonest well, 
Else whence this pleasing hope, this fond desire, 
This longing after immortality? 
Or. whence this secret dread and inward horror 
Of falling into naught? 

» 129 



RELIGION AS A SCIENTIFIC STUDY 

Why shrinks the soul back on itself 

And startles at destruction? 

'Tis the Divinity that stirs within us 

'Tis heaven itself that points out an hereafter, 

And intimates eternity to man." 

"The stars shall fade away, the sun himself 
Grow dim with age, and Nature sink in years; 
But thou shalt flourish in immortal youth, 
Unhurt amid the war of elements, 
The wreck of matter, and the crash of worlds." 

— Addison. 

'Tmrhortality o'ersweeps 
All pain, all tears, all time, all fear, and peals 
Like eternal thunder in the deep. 
Into my ears this truth — Thou livest forever." 

"That we live forever is not so strange as that 
we live at all. What we call death is being ship- 
wrecked into life." 

Mr. D , you are unreasonable and your con- 
stant assertions of disbelief without any reason, is 
but little short of foolishness. You accept the in- 
stinct of animals, but not of man. A half-finished 
picture raises your expectation of the artist's re- 
turn, but you get no hint from life's incompletions. 

You claim that man is greater than his work, and 
yet you expect man's work to remain and the man 
perish. 

You spoke of the wisdom of economy, and you 
would strongly disapprove of our government build- 
ing great vessels and filling them with precious 
cargoes just to sink them into the sea, and yet you 
claim that God has created, developed, and magni- 

130 



IMMORTALITY 

fied man for the purpose of annihilating him, when 
you admit that science teaches the indestructibility 
of matter. Why this exception? 

You say, "No one has come back to tell us of the 
beyond," and that is true, naturally enough. The 
oak never becomes so dwarfed as to get back into 
the acorn; the college graduate does not re-enter the 
Freshman class, neither does the sun-crowned im- 
mortal man return to earth's playground. If you 
want to see plays enacted, go to the theater or the 
seance. 

You say I assume immortality, but if I do I 
have reason for the assumption. Christ assumed it 
in all His teaching; I would be miserable without 
such a hope, and the constant goodness of God lures 
me on in this belief. 

Your arguments from Materialism fail to explain 
anything. You must know that the soul controls 
the body and, therefore, cannot be the result of or- 
ganization. Death no more affects the soul than 
the breaking of the harp does the player. The in- 
visible and inexplicable man plays on the body as 
does the harpist on his instrument. His invisibility 
is a greater mystery than if he wore Gyges' ring. 

Daniel Webster counted his own failing pulse, 
but failed to see his outgoing spirit. Rufus Choate 
bade his friends good-bye and his spirit sped away, 
but he told them when dying that he expected to see 
them again a thousand years hence. 



131 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 



RELIGION 

'The best armor in the world is religion, but it 
is the worst cloak." — John Newton. 

"Let your religion be seen. Lamps do not talk, 
but they shine." — T. L. Cuyler. 

"No man's religion survives his mora\s/'-^South. 

"Religion is as necessary to reason as reason is 
to religion." — George Washington. 

"I wish I could give to my family the Christian 
religion as I have bequeathed to them my property." 

— Patrick Henry. 

"You can find empires without thrones and 
thrones without emperors, but no empires without 
altars. * * — Plutarch. 



CHAPTER IX 

The Religion of Abraham 

INSCRIPTIONS from Southern Chaldea carry us 
back to 3800 B. C, if we accept the testimony 
of explorers. At that time the people worshiped 
the Creator God. If Abraham had left us a history 
of the religion of his time, it would be of thrilling 
interest to us now. But to find it stated that "Enoch 
walked with God" long before the day of Abraham 
suggests that religion was a personal experience 
rather than a form. 

Abraham spent his early manhood in the city of 
Ur, his father Terah having moved to Chaldea from 
the mountainous country of Southern Armenia. In 
answer to the call of God, Abraham and his family 
started to the land of Canaan. (Gen. 11-12.) They 
tarried in their journey at Haran, where Terah died. 
No doubt the religious life of the Hebrew people was 
molded more or less by the influences which sur- 
rounded Abraham in his boyhood home. 

Our knowledge as to the exact conditions of that 
far-away country, at a period beyond the dawn of 
authentic history, is quite limited, and yet we have 
facts which enable us to form definite ideas as to 
conditions in general. The great cities of Babylon 
Nippur, Akkad, Nineveh, etc., are more than mere 
names. The archeologists have been busy for the 
past fifty years, and it is not to their discredit to say 
that some of them have been goaded on by curiosity 

135 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

and the lure of fame, as well as by the historic in- 
stinct of the student. Their discoveries have thrown 
light on many of the Old Testament statements, 
thereby clearing up some mooted questions, and 
proving beyond dispute the historicity of certain 
Biblical statements that had long been questioned. 

According to Herodotus, the walls of Babylon 
were sixty miles in circumference, eighty-seven feet 
thick, three hundred fifty feet high, built of brick, 
and had twenty-five gates of solid brass and two 
hundred and fifty towers. The hanging gardens of 
the city were counted one of the wonders of the 
world. Here was the temple of Belus, which was 
built upon the site and was possibly a part of the 
tower of Babel (Gen. 11). 

The city was in its glory when Isaiah wrote his 
prophecy (Isa. 13. 19-22). The prophecy has been 
fulfilled and is literally true to the conditions of the 
present time. The people had sown to the wind and 
were doomed to reap the whirlwind. The prophet 
did not need any special divine illumination to make 
this prediction. All that is needed to prophesy 
truthfully under such conditions is to know facts 
and believe the statements of God where He affirms 
that the "wages of sin is death." Other nations 
have gone the same way and still others are going. 
For twenty-five years Christian prophets have been 
predicting what is now happening to Germany, and 
others are still trembling and hoping that America 
will learn her lesson before it is too late. 

When we think of Babylon we love to think of 
the things that appeal to us. How we revel in the 
history that has been unlocked since the great li- 

136 



THE RELIGION OF ABRAHAM 

braries have been unearthed, that had been buried 
in obHvion for thousands of years! How Bible- 
lovers have rejoiced to learn that these great finds 
have brought forth confirmatory evidence of the 
truthfulness of the Book they learned in infancy to 
reverence! School children have made big eyes when 
they heard for the first time of the Hanging Gardens, 
the Tower of Babel, the Mighty Walls, and the 
gates of brass, opening by hydraulic power into as 
many great avenues, along which rushed golden 
chariots, drawn by champing steeds, and of the 
fleets with silken sails that unloaded the cargoes of 
all precious things from the markets of the world on 
the marble wharfs of Babylon, the mightiest metrop- 
olis of earth! 

Financiers have been equally interested in learn- 
ing that the famous temples were banks where the 
wealth of the richest provinces of earth was de- 
posited. The great banking firm that lent money 
to kings and princes and financed Babylonian rev- 
enues of temples and state is known to have been 
Jewish. The name found on thousands of documents 
is Egibi, or Ikibi, the equivalent of the Hebrew 
Yakob or Jacob. But for this financial help, Baby- 
lon would never have stood out as the gay, social 
center of the world. If we would be true to history, 
we must turn to the other side of the picture. The 
priests that ministered in these rich temples became 
corrupt and unspeakably immoral. Here is the 
story the monuments tell. "In the temple of Bel, a 
great festival was held once a year. Many victims 
were sacrificed. There were processions accom- 
panied by music and dancing. The priests were 

137 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

magnificently costumed. The people were in holiday 
attire. Banquets were held and the city was given 
up to merry making. The king entertained his lords 
in his palace. There was dancing and revelry in 
private dwellings. Wine was drunk freely, passion 
was aroused, and the day often ended in wild orgies 
in which the grossest sensual appetites were allowed 
free indulgence under the sanction of religion. In 
the temples of one deity such excesses occurred daily. 
Every Babylonian woman was obliged once in her 
lifetime to visit a shrine of Baltis and stay there till 
some stranger cast money into her lap and took her 
along with him." 

Herodotus witnessed the scene and described it as 
follows: "Many women of the wealthier sort, who 
are too proud to mix with the others, drive in cov- 
ered carriages to the precinct, followed by a goodly 
train of attendants, and there take their station. 
But the larger number seat themselves within the 
holy enclosure with wreaths about their heads, and 
strangers pass along and take their choice. A woman 
who has once taken her seat is not allowed to return 
home till one of the strangers throws a silver coin 
into her lap, and takes her with him beyond the holy 
ground. The coin may be of any size or value, but 
the woman cannot refuse and must go with the first 
man who throws a coin." The religion of the early 
Babylonians is greatly debased before such prosti- 
tution is introduced as a part of the temple worship. 
The ideal of divinity has sunken pretty low when a 
goddess is pleased by such sensuality. These vices 
were prevalent when Babylon sank and history drew 
the curtain on her crimes. 

138 



THE RELIGION OF ABRAHAM 

When we attempt to trace the religious stream 
back to its source or to the pure monotheism of 
Abraham, we find many shoals and rapids and make 
slow progress. The religion of Babylon took prece- 
dence over the religion of China and Egypt and 
became the foundation on which Assyria and the 
surrounding countries built their religious systems. 

The earliest inhabitants of Southern Babylonia 
called their country Sumer and the people Sumer- 
ians. Their religion and customs were much like 
those of ancient Babylon. The priesthood was 
divided into classes. One class had to do with offer- 
ings, another with the music, a third with incanta- 
tions and exorcism, while still another had to do 
with the interpretations of omens. The priests had 
power to impose and collect taxes. By and by women 
were introduced into temple service as vestal virgins, 
but the practice soon descended to public prostitu- 
tion. The sacrifices included bullocks, sheep and 
goats, fish, birds, etc. There is no indication of 
human sacrifice which has marred the religions of 
so many of the earlier races. The people had no 
idea of the forgiveness of sins, but they requested 
the gods to loose the bands which were on them. 
They had an idea the gods could do this by means 
of their superior knowledge of magic. They believed 
that all evil, sickness, and death came upon people 
as a- result of the decree of the gods and that these 
things could be controlled only by the priests who 
used magic. The people were very religious, but 
their religious forms did not serve as a curb to their 
immoralities. 

Marduk or Merodach was at first the local god of 

139 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

Babylon, but was eventually recognized as the 
national god, and was often mentioned as Bel- 
Merodach, for he assumed the attributes of Bel. 
He is the Belus of Greek Mythology. Hammurabi 
beautified his temple, which came to be known as 
"The House of the Lofty Dead." The people re- 
garded him as the Creator of the Universe. 

The people worshiped spirits much as the 
Chinese have done through all the years. They 
thought the air was full of these spirits. Much of 
their literature was formulas, rituals, and advice for 
controlling the spirits. They worshiped animals 
much as did the Egyptians. Many of the gods had 
animal emblems — winged bulls, eagle-headed men, 
etc. The heavenly bodies were worshiped. The 
Babylonians were an imaginative people and pro- 
duced many mythological stories as to the birth, 
pranks, and power of their gods. The gods are 
represented as taking to themselves wives, but the 
wives are doubles of themselves and have no special 
separate character. 

The religion of Babylon in its early history 
showed clearly its individualistic and experimental 
character. Images were used in temples and public 
worship, but these images were simply to represent 
the god that was back of them. They entertained 
some peculiar beliefs and followed what seem to us 
strange customs. Some of their monuments give as 
mythical accounts of creation as anything we find 
in the Veda. Their totemistic ideas are as weird as 
anything in Indian folklore. They are as sure 
disease is caused by demons, as Mrs. Eddy is that 
it has no real existence. They exorcised or pounded 

140 



THE RELIGION OF ABRAHAM 

out the demon. They say that Bel requested one 
of his gods to cut off his (Bel's) head and knead 
earth with the flowing blood. This was done and 
man and animals were formed from the clay. The 
object in creating man was to have some one to 
worship God and build temples for His glory. 

Their astrology is built on the supposition that 
heaven is an exact counterpart of earth. The sick 
were placed in the public square of the town and 
any who would might prescribe for them, and the 
attendants in waiting would bring the ,remedy. 
Criminals were thrown into a furnace of fire, a den 
of lions, or cast out among wild beasts. They have 
a tradition of war in heaven caused by a discord 
in a hymn of praise which was being sung by a 
choir of five thousand angels. There was rebellion 
in the choir and Satan appears to lead the bolters, 
and Bel put himself at the head of the choir and 
cast the devil and his followers to earth. 

"The Semitic branch comprises the Hebrews 
or Israelites, the Arabs and ancient Syrians, Assyr- 
ians, Babylonians, Phoenicians, and Carthaginians. 
The Hamitic branch includes the ancient Chaldees, 
Egyptians, and Ethiopians. The Aryan branch is 
called Japhetic because it has been supposed to be 
descended from Japheth, while the Semitic branch 
is regarded as the posterity of Shem, and the Hamitic 
branch as the children of Ham. 

"The Semitic branch has been noted for religious 
development, having given rise to three monothe- 
istic religions — Judaism, Christianity, and Islam or 
Mohammedanism. The Hamitic branch were famous 
builders and their structures were famous. The 

141 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

Semitic and Hamitic nations, after attaining a cer- 
tain degree of civilization, remained stationary, and 
their civilization has perished." 

Arabia is the cradle of the Semitic race. These 
people had great religious influence, but were not 
noted as empire builders. They were not an imagi- 
native people, neither were they artistic or philo- 
sophical in their temperament, but were pre-emi- 
nently practical. They had many gods and yet they 
were natural monotheists. The gods generally took 
their names from human relationships. "Baal" 
means Master; "Adon" means Lord; "Melech" 
means King, etc. The goddess came before the god, 
for mothers were the first rulers. 

The Semitic religion had its center in the clan 
and its teaching related to this life, while the Aryan 
religion had its center in the family and dwelt largely 
on the life beyond. The Semites sacrificed at an 
upright monolith which they bathed with the blood 
of the victim. This sacrifice took the form of a 
banquet at which there was great rejoicing. God 
was their champion, their strong clansman. Some- 
times he was functional, guarding agriculture, the 
home, government, etc. 

Moloch, the god of Tyre and Sidon, was intro- 
duced Into Canaan with all his bloody rites. Human 
sacrifice, especially the sacrifice of children, was a 
regular feature of this worship. A great statue 
stood on the hill overlooking the Valley of Hinnom, 
in which fire burned constantly. The children to be 
sacrificed were put In the arms of this Image and at 
a given signal were thrown Into the fire amid the 
shouts of the worshipers. This valley was called 

142 



THE RELIGION OF ABRAHAM 

Gehenna by the Greeks, and in translating it we call 
it "hell." The priests of this service became shock- 
ingly immoral and their vices spread among the 
people. The traditions and customs of these Semitic 
peoples were much alike. 

Archeologists are making discoveries that show 
that the literature of these people was of a high 
order and voluminous 2500 to 4000 years B. C. 
They had great libraries that were well-organized 
and had an extensive patronage. The rules that 
governed these libraries were efficient and strict. 
Their rural mail systems were not unlike our parcel 
post. 

The most important branch of the Semitic people 
are generally referred to in America as "Jews," 
better known in history as "Hebrews," and are often 
spoken of in the Scriptures as "Israelites." The 
Jews delight to be known as the descendants of the 
patriarch Judah, who lived in Judea, and which 
country they think of as their home. Now that 
Palestine has fallen into the hands of the English, 
the Jews see in it the fulfillment of the prophecy of 
their return, for which they have been praying for 
many centuries. The Jews' Wailing Place in Jerusa- 
lem is sought by all travelers, because the Jews go 
there on every Friday to read these prophecies and 
pray. No one who is not narrow and bigoted can 
look upon this scene unsympathetically. The Jews 
have large wealth and are contributing it freely in 
re-establishing their race in Palestine. 

After Jacob wrestled with the angel and pre- 
vailed, his name was changed to Israel, and his 
descendants are often referred to in the Scriptures as 

143 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

Israelites. In Gen. 10. 24, 11. 14, 1 Chron. 1. 25, and 
Luke 3. 35, we meet the name Eber or Heber, whose 
descendants are known as Hebrews. This term in 
Scripture is generally used by foreigners who want 
to designate these people as having come from the 
other side of the river. The three names refer to 
one and the same people. Their history and re- 
ligion are set forth in the Old Testament Scripture 
and is the basis on which the Christian religion 
rests, and is therefore of special interest to us, but 
is so familiar that it need not be discussed at length 
in a work of this kind. 

When rescued from bondage and delivered from 
their Egyptian enemies, the Hebrews began as an 
independent nation. They had a population of 
about three million souls and possessed considerable 
wealth. They had marched into Canaan believing 
it was theirs by the promise and provision of God. 
They had no earthly head, for Moses was regarded 
simply as their leader and chief magistrate. The 
commonwealth was a theocracy and, therefore, dif- 
ferent from any other government. The people were 
soon divided into tribes, and the tribes into families. 
Moses composed an ode of thanksgiving in which all 
the people joined in singing and praising God for 
their wonderful deliverance. This noble poem is 
full of pathos and noble thought. "Sing to Jehovah, 
tor He is very greatly exalted: The horse and his 
rider He hath cast into the sea." The Old Testament 
and the religion set forth therein is so bound up with 
the New Testament and Christianity that they rise 
or fall together. 

The word "Bible" is from Biblos and means 

144 



THE RELIGION OF ABRAHAM 

"Book." The Protestant Bible comprises sixty-six 
canonical books, of which twenty-two are historical, 
five poetical, eighteen prophetical, and twenty-one 
epistolatory. These were written in three languages, 
at intervals during a period of sixteen hundred years, 
by no less than thirty-six different writers of every 
grade of culture, and moving in various spheres of 
life: "Two kings, one cup-bearer, one lawyer, one 
judge, one scribe, and many prophets, one of whom 
was a king's chief minister, another a missionary, 
and a third a farmer's son, two fishermen, a tent- 
maker, a publican, a physician, and others." 

One cannot read carefully this marvelous book 
without being impressed that its perfect unity and 
harmony, notwithstanding its great variety, argiie 
strongly for its divinity. Such unity and purpose of 
plan could not exist without collusion among the 
writers or a controlling superintending mind. If the 
reader should receive to-day by express from some 
distant city a piece of machinery, and on the morrow 
receive from a different place another piece, and this 
process should be repeated for sixty-six days, each 
day bringing a piece from a different place, and he 
should find on examination thaf the pieces fit to- 
gether harmoniously, and make a perfect machine, 
not a piece too many and not a piece wanting, he 
would naturally and inevitably conclude that the 
persons who had made the pieces worked intelli- 
gently to the same end, or that there was a superin- 
tending mind who planned for the unity out of 
variety. It is not possible that the writers of the 
Bible were in collusion, for they lived in different 
ages and in widely separated regions, between which 

145 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

there was little or no communication, and wrote in 
different languages. We are, therefore, forced to 
the conclusion that there was a controlling superin- 
tending mind and that "Holy men of God spake as 
they were moved by the Holy Ghost," when they 
wrote the book we call the Bible. 

Simple and unavoidable as this conclusion seems 
to be, it has been ably contested and has led to much 
fiery criticism, which has proved a great blessing to 
the Christian world. It is true it has been a de- 
structive fire that has burned up much tradition, 
superstition, and bibliolatry which had fastened 
themselves to the Sacred Record, as barnacles to a 
ship. The destructive fire which once swept over 
the Pyrenees and destroyed the vineyards of the 
peasantry left them as they supposed very poor, but 
as some of them walked amid the desolation fney 
observed that the heat had opened fissures in the 
earth, and it was by means of these that they dis- 
covered the rich veins of gold beneath the surface. 
Instead of the fire making them poor, it revealed to 
them the fact they were rich. The fiery criticism to 
which the Bible has been subjected has not destroyed 
anything that had real value, but it has revealed a 
vast amount of gold beneath the surface. 

The Bible is growing in public favor, is over- 
coming opposition and being recognized by the best 
scholars as in harmony with the most advanced 
science. If the Bible is the Word of God this process 
must go on till every obstacle gives away, for there 
can be no contradiction between the revelations of 
God as written in the Bible and in Nature. It is true 
the Bible was not given to teach science, but salva- 

146 



THE RELIGION OF ABRAHAM 

tion, yet it is equally true that the incidental refer- 
ences to science must not contradict facts. It is 
well for us to remember that while Scientia as used 
by the ancients meant knowledge, that many theories 
which were regarded as scientific a quarter of a cen- 
tury ago are no longer entertained by scholars. We can 
afford to stay close to the Bible, in full confidence that 
when the scientists have made their last deliverance 
they will rest upon God's Word as a foundation. 

It must have been a designing Providence that 
put the revelation of God into languages that soon 
became "dead" and were not, therefore, subject to 
change; that caused the people and the countries de- 
scribed in the sacred narrative to drop out of the 
onward march of the nations and to remain until 
the present time practically unchanged in topog- 
raphy, customs, and civilization; that turned during 
the past century an army of explorers to those 
neglected lands, who, by means of pickax and spade, 
have exhumed buried cities, enabling us to walk 
their streets, visit the homes, study the customs and 
talk with the people who represented civilizations 
that grew old and died long before the birth of the 
Christian era, thus bringing within reach of every- 
one indubitable evidence that the Bible deals with 
fact and not with fancy. We are living in an age 
when the stones are literally crying out as predicted 
by Christ (Luke 19. 40). When we are thoughtful 
and attentive we can hear their voices above the 
tumult, testifying to God's creative power, and in- 
viting us to trace His footprints back through the 
ages of time, till we stand at the beginning of the 
demiurgic day and hear God's voice saying, "Let 

147 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

there be light.*' Persons who have no inclination to 
follow the explorers through Egypt, Babylon, and 
Nineveh may take a leisurely walk with Dr. Stowe 
along the corridors of history and hear him rehearse 
the testimony of one hundred witnesses, who lived 
within two centuries of the crucifixion of Christ, to 
the truth and inspiration of the Bible. 

We are well aware that the Bible did not fall 
ready-made from heaven, but that it has been writ- 
ten, collated, and preserved by means of human 
agency. Our inquiry into its origin and present form 
shall be as reverent as it is critical. The first refer- 
ence to an attempt at preserving God's law or stat- 
utes is found in Deut. 31. 26, where it is said: "The 
book of the law was placed by Moses in the side of 
the ark." The canon of Scripture just as we have 
it was in general circulation as early as the fourth 
century of the Christian era. The first attempt at 
arranging a canon seems to have been made by Ezra 
about 450 B. C. The second attempt was made by 
Nehemiah when he was forming a library, for "he 
gathered together the Acts of the Kings and the 
Prophets, and the Psalms of David, and the Epistles 
of the Kings concerning the holy gift." (2 Mace. 2.13.) 
Sometime during the next 150 years the Old Testa- 
ment canon, just as we have it to-day, was generally 
accepted, though the 39 books were so grouped 
as to accord with the 22 letters of the Hebrew alpha- 
bet. The twelve Minor Prophets counting as one, 
Ruth being coupled with Judges, Ezra with Nehe- 
miah, Lamentations with Jeremiah, while First and 
Second Samuel, First and Second Kings, and First 
and Second Chronicles were reckoned as one each. 

148 



THE RELIGION OF ABRAHAM 

Josephus, Origen, Jerome, and others speak of 
the Old Testament canon as containing the twenty- 
two books referred to. Hilary mentions that the 
Hebrews had twenty-two canonical books of the Old 
Testament, corresponding to the twenty-two letters 
in their alphabet: but as the Greeks have twenty- 
four letters in their alphabet, they ought to have 
twenty-four books in their Old Testament canon: 
and he, therefore, in order to make out the number 
twenty-four, would add to the Hebrew canon the 
books of Tobit and Judith for the Greek Bible. 

The attitude of Christ and the apostles towards 
the books of the Old Testament is very suggestive 
and significant. Every writer of the New Testament 
refers to the Old Testament, and nearly every writer 
of the Old Testament is quoted in the New Testa- 
ment. Two hundred and nine of the two hundred 
and sixty chapters into which the New Testament is 
divided refer by direct quotation or indirect refer- 
ence to the Old Testament. Christ endorsed the 
Old Testament by referring to or quoting from 
twenty-four of the thirty-nine books. He made the 
Old Testament the basis of His teaching, fulfilled its 
laws and accepted its history. 

Just when and by whom the books of the New 
Testament were collected and arranged is not defi- 
nitely known. Some scholars claim the work was 
done mainly by St. John. It was certainly accom- 
plished early in the Christian era for the council of 
Laodicea (364 A. D.) adopted the canon just as we 
have it in the Revised Version of the New Testa- 
ment. Tischendorf has said, "By what logicians call 
the method of rejection it is shown successively that 

149 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

the Gospels which were admitted as canonical in the 
fourth century could not have been written so late 
as the third century after Christ. Then, in the same 
way, the testimony of the third century carries us 
up to the second, then the writers again of the second 
century not only refer to the Gospels as commonly 
received as parts of the Sacred Scripture, but also 
refer their origin to a date not later than the end of 
the first century." 

So far as we know, Christ never penned a line, 
nor commanded His followers to do so, but soon after 
His ascension the disciples began to record His words 
in the Gospels. The claims of Christianity rest on 
the person of Christ and it is not strange that the 
battles of the Christian Church have been fought 
around Christ. If the claims of Christ be over- 
thrown Christianity must surrender. We must 
frankly admit that we have no other source of infor- 
mation, with respect to the life of Jesus, than the 
sacred writings. We have no choice — we must stand 
for the integrity of the Gospels or surrender the bat- 
tle against infidelity. Christ Himself appealed to the 
Scriptures to vindicate His claim. (John 5. 39.) In 
the course of time the Acts and the Epistles naturally, 
logically at least, followed the Gospels. These were 
usually written by a scribe or rapid writer at the dicta- 
tion of the author. It seems that most of Paul's Epis- 
tles were produced in this way, but in some instances 
he speaks of having written a part with his own hand, 
Philemon 19. Where the writer did not do the 
writing himself, he no doubt corrected as we do now 
before he gave it his final approval and signature. 
The manuscripts have come to us through human 

150 



THE RELIGION OF ABRAHAM 

hands, and this fact has led some to write and talk 
learnedly of the errancy of the Scriptures, while 
many have hesitated to assert that they are inerrant. 
It is our privilege to meet the facts boldly and in- 
telligently and then draw our own conclusion. 

The material on which the books were originally 
written was probably papyrus, a frail kind of paper 
made from the reeds of the Nile. After a time more 
durable parchment came into use, made from the 
skins of antelopes and calves. The custom was to 
wind the sheets, of both papyrus and parchment, on 
sticks and call them rolls, but later they were stitched 
together and called books. While none of the orig- 
inal manuscripts remain, we are sure we have the 
Scripture as first written, as we shall see. "The Old 
Testament manuscripts and the New Testament 
manuscripts were intrusted to the guardianship of a 
class religiously set apart for the purpose. The text 
was sacred to them all. During the ages while the 
Jews were persecuted and downtrodden they were 
guarding these manuscripts.*' 

All copies were made under their direction, and 
with a most marvelous devotion to the letter. Strict 
rules were enjoined upon them. There had to be on 
each parchment so many columns, and so many lines 
in each column, and so many words in each line. 
The ink had to be of a certain kind. The vowels, 
consonants, and accents had to be marked. So care- 
ful were they that the one hundredth copy was as 
good as the original manuscript. We have hundreds 
of manuscripts of the Old Testament and hundreds 
of manuscripts of the New Testament. WTien we 
compare these manuscripts, some earlier, some later, 

151 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

copied by different copyists, we find substantial 
agreement. 

The differences amounted to nothing. At a lit- 
erary party in Edinburgh the question was asked: 
"Suppose all the New Testaments in the world had 
been destroyed at the end of the third century, 
could their contents have been discovered from the 
writings of the first three centuries?" No one could 
answer. Lord Hailes, who was present, on going 
home, took down from his library the writings of 
those centuries and set to work to cull out all the 
quotations from the New Testament. He kept at 
the work for two months, and at the end of that 
time he had gathered from them the whole New 
Testament with the exception of eleven verses. Al- 
though we do not have the original manuscripts, 
yet in many ways we do know that we have the 
words of the original. It is probably a good thing 
that the original manuscripts were lost or destroyed. 
Such is the tendency of man to worship such things, 
that if they were in existence they would be objects 
of idolatry. So would the Bible, as we now have it, 
if it contained no marks of man's imperfect work 
upon it. 

The Talmud or Jewish law, combining the Mishna 
or test and the Gamara or commentary, is largely de- 
voted to religious or legal points. It contains many 
terse sayings, some of which are strikingly practical 
and reveal a deeply devotional spirit. The sayings 
reveal a side to the Jewish religious life that is not so 
clearly seen in the Old Testament. Here are some of 
the more suggestive sayings: 

152 



THE RELIGION OF ABRAHAM 

Adversity Is the true school of the mind. 

He who pretends to be blind in order to appeal 
to the popular sympathy, will be afflicted with this 
infirmity sooner or later. 

Be not provoked to anger and thou wilt not sin. 

When you give away to anger, you destroy your 
own house. 

Anger showeth the character of a man. 

Few are they who see their own faults. 

Roses grow among thorns. 

Soldiers fight, but kings are the heroes. 

Judge people favorably. 

Good deeds are better than good creeds. 

A true benefactor searches out the poor. 

Charity is the salt of riches. 

If you lack nobility of heart, nobility of blood is 
of no avail. 

Cleanliness is next to Godliness. 

If thou hast no money, attend no auctions. 

Myrtle remains fragrant though it grows among 
thorns. 

The path of duty leads to salvation. 

Improve thyself, then endeavor to improve 
others. 

The end does not justify the means. 

Every union for a divine purpose is destined to 
last. 

He is rich who is satisfied with his lot. 

Death is the haven of life. 

Do not speak ill of the departed, for his soul still 
lives. 

A He has no legs to stand upon. 

When the ox is down, many are the butchers. 

What the child says on the street he has learned 
at home. 

Guard thy neighbor's honor. 

Do not go empty-handed when you visit the sick 
poor. 

Keep far from the flatterer. 

153 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

In choosing a friend, ascend a step. 

Happy is he who fears God in the prime of life. 

What God does is done for our good. 

No position can honor the man, but man can 
honor his position. 

The laborer is allowed to shorten his prayers. 

He who attempts too much, does little. 

The sun will set without thy assistance. 

He who helps himself will be helped by God. 

Let thy house be a place of meeting for the wise, 
and eagerly drink in their words. 

He who can testify in favor of his neighbor and 
does not is a transgressor. 

Thy secret is thy slave. If thou let it loose thou 
becomest its slave. 

Pry not into things that are beyond thy ken. 

Thy friend has a friend, and thy friend's friend 
has a friend; be discreet. 

When the wine is in, the secret is out. 

Without religion there can be no true morality. 

He who hardens his heart with pride softens his 
brain with the same. 

Blessed are the women who send their children 
to the house of prayer. 

He who prays for others will be heard favorably 
when he prays for himself. 

He who forges arrows may one day be killed by 
his own arrow. 

Some are old in their youth, while others are 
young in their old age. 

Good men promise little and do much. 

When Satan cannot come himself he sends wine 
as a messenger. 

Life leads to the tomb, but death to the res- 
urrection. 

These maxims throw light on the customs and 
life of the descendants of Abraham. 



154 



CHAPTER X 

The Religion of Egypt 

THE Nile flows northward three thousand miles 
and empties into the Mediterranean Sea. In 
ancient times the Nile Valley was densely 
populated. It was on an average of seven miles 
wide, but its length was five hundred and twenty-six 
miles. In this narrow strip of territory lived more 
than seven million people. The Nile Valley is studded 
with the ruins of ancient cities, pyramids, sphinxes, 
labyrinths, statues, obelisks, tombs, memnons, tem- 
ples, etc. 

Memphis, founded by Menes, the first Egyptian 
king, was the chief city of Middle Egypt in ancient 
times. The magnificent and stately Thebes was 
known as the hundred-gated city of Upper Egypt. 
It is said to have extended over twenty- three miles. 
''On its sides are the villages of Karnak and Luxor, 
where ruins of magnificent and spacious temples, 
splendid palaces, colossal statues, avenues of obelisks, 
and lines of sphinxes, tombs of kings hewn in solid 
rock, subterranean catacombs, and the gigantic 
statue of Memnon still bear witness to the immense 
size and splendor of this great and celebrated city 
whose ruins extend seven miles along both banks of 
the Nile. The ancient Egyptians had a wonderful 
building instinct. The outstanding feature of their 
architecture was massiveness and grandeur, in which 
respects they have never been surpassed. Their 

155 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

pyramids are the oldest and largest and most won- 
derful of human works and still bear testimony to 
the beauty and perfection of their masonry. 

There is an obelisk now standing in Egypt which 
weighs three hundred tons, and a colossus of Rameses 
the Great which weighs nine hundred tons. Herod- 
otus describes a monolithic temple weighing five 
thousand tons. Some of the stones that were built 
into the temples weighed sixteen thousand tons and 
must have been transported for hundreds of miles 
over the sand. In one instance two thousand men 
were employed three years in conveying a stone 
from the quarry to the structure in which it was to 
be placed. There is one stone that is seventy-two 
feet long that squares thirteen feet. The mass from 
which these great statues and monoliths were carved 
must have weighed hundreds of thousands of tons. 
The obelisks were tall and slender monoliths erected 
at the gateways of temples, one on either side. "Ob- 
elisk" is the Greek word obeliskos, meaning a square 
shaft with pyramidal top. 

The Pyramid of Cheops was described by Herod- 
otus. It was then very ancient. Jacob no doubt 
sat in its shade and meditated on its great an- 
tiquity, for it must have been at least 2,000 years 
old when he visited Egypt. It was originally 
485 feet high and the base covers thirteen acres. 
The sides of the base measure 716 feet. There 
is a descending passage 3x4 feet leading to a 
chamber cut in the solid rock about 100 feet be- 
low the ground level of the base. This chamber 
is precisely under the apex of the pyramid, which 
is 600 feet above. In this chamber were placed the 

156 



THE RELIGION OF EGYPT 

stone coffins containing the mummies of the ancient 
monarchs. Herodotus says the building of this 
pyramid occupied thirty years and that one hundred 
thousand men were forced to work upon it at a time, 
and that a new army of laborers were employed 
every three months. There are many pyramids in 
the valley, but the Cheops pyramid is the largest and 
most famous. 

Herodotus says: "Ammemes III built the Laby- 
rinth in the Faioom, the most superb and gigantic 
edifice in Egypt, which contained three thousand 
rooms, one half of which were under ground, and were 
the receptacle of the mummies of kings, and of 
sacred crocodiles, and are known as the Catacombs. 
The walls of the fifteen hundred apartments above 
ground were of solid stone and were entirely covered 
with sculpture. The roof was of stone. Every 
court was surrounded by a colonnade which was 
built of white stones exquisitely fitted together. 

The same king constructed Lake Moeris, a nat- 
ural reservoir near the bend of the Nile, to retain 
water for irrigation purposes. 

Rameses the Great (1388-1322), who was called 
Sesostris by the Greeks, is known as the great builder 
of Egypt. He constructed the great wall from 
Pelusium to Heliopolis to protect Egypt from the 
inroads of the Syrians and the Arabs. He cut a 
system of canals from Memphis to the sea. It was 
he who completed the Hall of Columns at Karnak 
and placed before the temple two sitting colossi of 
himself which remain to this day in perfect condition. 
In every part of Egypt may be found monuments 
commemorating the achievements and greatness of 

157 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

this celebrated monarch, the most prominent of the 
long line of deified sovereigns of Egypt. One of the 
eulogies states he was the father of fifty-one boys 
and one hundred and eleven girls. 

The Egyptians ranked high intellectually, and 
some writers claim that many of the moral and re- 
ligious sentiments expressed in the Book of the Dead 
rank as high as the Bible expressions referring to 
similar subjects. 

The people recognized a caste system distinguished 
by occupations much the same as that which obtains 
in India at the present time. The priests formed the 
highest caste, the warriors the second, and all other 
occupations the lowest. They exerted great influ- 
ence, and in all civic matters were the power behind 
the throne. They were the only people of education, 
and in the main their influence was for good. Their 
intelligence and influence explain the fact that 
nearly everything Egyptian had a religious bearing — 
the public works, monuments, sphinxes, pyramids, 
tombs, obelisks, etc. The religious life was wrought 
into the everyday life of the Egyptian, and was in- 
separable from it. 

The Laws give evidence of a state of high civili- 
zation in Egypt 3,500 years ago. Every person was 
compelled to give a written statement to the author- 
ities, one each year, showing his means of support, 
and any falsification of the record was punishable 
with death. A willful murderer was put to death. 
A judge who put an innocent person to death was 
judged a murderer. Counterfeiting money, falsify- 
ing public records, forging documents or names was 
punishable with the loss of both hands. A man's 

158 



THE RELIGION OF EGYPT 

property could be seized for debt, but not his 
person. 

The golden period of Egyptian law, civilization, 
and literature was in the reign of Pharaoh of the 
Exodus, fifteen centuries B. C. 

There were great libraries in the Valley, gen- 
erally known as "Dispensaries of the Soul." These 
libraries contained books on a variety of subjects as 
well as much fiction. The titles of some of the books 
that have come down to us are suggestive of their 
contents: "Romance of Setna," "Tale of the Doomed 
Prince," "Garden of Flowers," "My Sweet Heart," 
and so forth. The catalog of subjects treated in- 
cludes works on religion, history, theology, poetry, 
epistolary correspondence, military, legal, orations, 
love-songs, morality, rhetoric, mathematics, medicine, 
geography, astronomy, magic, proverbs, etc. Re- 
ligious works were the most numerous and important. 

These people had a rural mail system. Their 
agricultural instruments seem very crude to us, as 
we think of their wooden plows, hoes, etc. Their 
wheat was cut with a sickle and carried into a cen- 
tral place in baskets on donkeys. At the common 
threshing floor it was trampled by beasts and men 
till loosened from the hull. It was winnowed by 
hand — one man pouring it from a vessel while an- 
other fanned the chaff away. 

Religion was at the foundation of the extraordi- 
nary care that the Egyptians bestowed upon their 
dead. The natural conditions in Egypt led to the 
discovery of the art of embalming. Wood was too 
scarce and costly to use in cremating the bodies, 
while the land was too valuable to use as burying 

159 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

places. The rocky mountain ranges on each side of 
the river seemed designated by nature for sepulchers, 
but the dead could not be heaped together without 
breeding pestilence. So the custom of embalming 
was introduced by the priestly law-givers and was 
soon incorporated with the civil and religious insti- 
tutions of the nation. The art of embalming, used 
so successfully in early Egyptian history, seems to 
have been lost some 750 A. D. Ancient Egypt was 
remarkably free from the epidemic plagues which 
now frequently desolate the Nile Valley. 

It has been estimated that between 2000 B. C. 
and 700 A. D. there may have been interred in 
Egypt seven hundred and twenty million (720,000,- 
000) mummied corpses. Probably five-sixths of 
these belonged to the lower classes. The embalmers 
received for their art some $15,000,000 (in our 
money) annually. 

There have been many discoveries in the past 
few years that have thrown much light on Egyptian 
history. "The Rosetta Stone" was found by Cham- 
pollion, a French officer, in 1799 while erecting a 
building at a place called Rosetta, on the Nile. This 
stone is a slab of black basalt, three feet long by two 
and one-half feet wide. It was erected in honor of 
Ptolemy Epiphanes in 193 B. C. The stone is now 
in the British Museum. The inscription is in hiero- 
glyphic, demotic, and Greek. The Greek became 
the key to the hieroglyphics. The ability to read 
the hieroglyphics has unlocked the history of Egypt, 
which has been sealed for thousands of. years, and 
this means a flood of light on many things Egyptian. 
The country is no longer thought of as the "Wonder- 

160 



THE RELIGION OF EGYPT 

land — land of Mystery." This does not mean that 
there are not "mysteries," it simply means they are 
not so numerous, dark, and impenetrable as formerly. 

Ancient Egypt was divided into Upper and Lower 
Egypt. Lower Egypt was from Memphis to the sea. 
Each division had twenty nomes, or provinces, which 
were largely independent of one another in govern- 
ment and religion. These crowns were united by 
King Menes in 2700 B. C. The "union" was Httle 
more than a federation. Manetho reckons thirty 
Egyptian Dynasties beginning with Menes and dates 
his reign as beginning 2700 B. C. 

As time went on there were wars, interregnums 
and foreign rulers, and a general deterioration of 
everything Egyptian. This condition was brought 
about by licentiousness and general demoralization 
caused by wealth and luxury. 

In this work we are especially interested in the 
religion of this wonderful people. We know some- 
thing of their religion through authentic records ex- 
tending through a period of not less than 3,000 years. 
Clement of Alexandria, one of the mo&t learned of 
the Greek Fathers, represents the temples "as fine 
and costly as art and wealth can make them, but on 
entering the interior to find the god, one finds in a 
sacred place a bull, a crocodile, a serpent, a cat, a 
garden vegetable, or perhaps simply a hole in the 
ground. The kings had costly temples built for their 
priests* worship." In many of these the principal 
object of worship was a live or possibly an embalmed 
bull. In Memphis there is a gallery 2,000 feet long 
occupied by embalmed bulls. The animals may 
have been worshiped for their qualities — the bull for 

161 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

strength, deer for swiftness, fox for cunning. In all 
their animal worship the idea seemed to be totem- 
istic. 

The central idea in all their worship is life, whether 
that "life" be in a vegetable, an animal, man, or God. 
No one who has studied the Egyptian religion doubts 
that back of the worship of life in its various forms 
is the monotheistic idea clear, distinct, and ancient. 
The various objects of worship were regarded simply 
as representing the one Almighty God. This Su- 
preme God was Power and was represented by the 
Sun. He had the names Ammon and Ra, which are 
frequently united — Ammon-Ra. In attempting to 
account for the origin of this God the philosophers 
wove many mythical stories telling how He came 
from an egg, and others telling how He produced the 
egg from which He sprang. 

The idea of immortality is constantly to the 
front in Eg>^ptian religion. The scarabeus that is 
embalmed with the body is the emblem of immor- 
tality. The tomb is spoken of as the "dwelling- 
place" of the departed, and the departed are referred 
to as the "living ones." The transmigration of the 
soul and its immortality were doctrines that seem 
never to have been questioned by the Egyptians. 
The Ka was man's spiritual double that went with 
him into the spiritual world and entered upon pur- 
suits similar to those he followed here. The Ka of 
the Egyptian corresponds to the geniies of the Latins 
and the fravishis of the Persians. "The Ka is the 
image which a man's name recalls to the mind's eye 
of those who have known him." On the monument 
where the King is represented as standing in the 

162 



THE RELIGION OF EGYPT 

presence of God, there is seen behind him his Ka, 
shown as a little man with the ruler's own features. 

The Sacred Books of Egypt abound in statements 
that throw light on their ideas of the future. "The 
Book of the Dead" is a collection of prayers and magic 
rites used in burial services. This book was regarded 
with great reverence. Passages from it were tran- 
scribed on papyrus and wrapped around the bodies 
of the illustrious dead. The theme of the book is 
the conflict between light and darkness. "The soul 
is supposed to have plunged through the dark valley 
that intervenes between him and eternity and fight- 
ing its way through hosts of opposing dragons and 
monsters of evil. It then appears for trial in the 
dreaded judgment hall of Osiris, where the heart is 
placed in a balance against the feather of truth." 
If you would know how Osiris got to be the god of 
the underworld you must recall the legend which 
tells that Osiris was murdered by his brother Set. 
Isis sought his corpse and fitted the pieces together 
and thereby gave him new life. She was delighted 
with what she had accomplished and used her influ- 
ence to get him appointed as ruler of the realm of 
the dead. Horus his son avenged Set and was ap- 
pointed by the gods to be King of the living. His 
successors became the Kings of Egypt. 

The soul is represented as saying, "I have done 
no evil against man." ''I have not been idle, intoxi- 
cated, or unchaste." 'T have not been unjust m 
dealings." "I have not murdered." 'T have not 
eaten the sacred bread of the temple." "I am pure 
in life," etc. This book is one of the forty-five im- 
portant sacred books of Egypt. The other forty- 

163 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

four have been lost. Nearly all the old manuscripts 
that have been recovered from the tombs have ex- 
tracts from this book's recipes for outward cleansing, 
rubbing the stain from the heart, etc. 

The book contains certain hymns to be sung on 
festival occasions, or "in social meetings, among the 
rich, when the banquet is ended, a servant carries 
around to the several guests a coffin, in which there 
is a wooden image of a corpse, carved and painted to 
resemble nature cis nearly as possible. The servant 
says to each guest, 'Gaze here, and drink and be 
merry, for when you die such will you be.' " Burgsch 
says, "Much that is in the Book of the Dead does not 
fall short of the teachings of Christianity, but there 
is no evidence that Moses translated into Hebrew 
any of the precepts he found in the Sacred Books of 
Egypt." 

Maatj of which the Egyptians made so much, "is 
law by a divine legislator, like the law of the He- 
brews, but in the sense of that unerring order which 
governs the universe whether in its physical or in its 
moral aspect." Here is a noble conception. 

The maxims of Ptah-hatep, as found in one of 
the Sacred Books of Egypt, say: 

"The man is happy who lives upon his own 
labor." 

"Love thy wife, and flatter her often." 

"What we say in secret is known to God." 

"Gossip is abominable." 

"Steer clear of a fool." 

"The bad man's life is a failure." 



164 



CHAPTER XI 

The Teutonic Religion 

THE Teutons were a branch of the Aryans. 
Aryan means noble, and these people claimed 
they were of a superior race, and generally 
looked with contempt on other people. Tacitus de- 
scribes them as of fair complexion, large frame, 
lovers of the chase and of war, and as being inhuman 
in their cruelties. The term Aryan is quite general 
in its significance, sometimes taking in the Indo- 
Europeans as well as the Indo-Germanic peoples. 
The Teutonic branch of the Aryans includes Greeks, 
Italians, Celts, Germans, Slavs, Setts, and Albanians. 
The kinship of these races is discovered only as their 
history is traced back. 

The early home of the Aryans was in Southern 
Russia, in the plains north of the Black Sea. Here 
lived great hordes of people who were becoming un- 
like in language, customs, and culture, though they 
were of the same blood. It is not easy to describe 
them, because they left us no authentic history, and 
the interpretation of their scattered monuments and 
remains is fraught with difficulty. Some things that 
were formerly regarded as authentic history are now 
looked upon as fiction. This early civilization was 
primitive enough if the accounts that have reached 
us are at all reliable. 

They were a nomadic people who moved from 
place to place in an attempt to find good pasturage 

165 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

and hunting. Their dogs, cattle, and sheep were 
moved with them. There is no evidence that they 
had domesticated horses, hogs, goats, or fowls. They 
knew nothing of the manufacture of butter or cheese. 
Their food was coarse and often devoured raw and 
consisted in the main of things that wild animals live 
upon. Their clothing was made of the skins of wild 
animals, sometimes tied on and sometimes sewed 
with thongs. In winter they lived in pits and caves, 
while in the summer time they lived in rude wagons. 
They knew but little about the metals, or at least 
did not use them to any extent in their tools or 
weapons, which were usually made of stone or wood. 

The aged, the sick, and those who were not 
physically strong were killed, being, as it was claimed, 
an impediment to the race. Wives were obtained 
by purchase or capture, and parents were free to do 
with their children what they chose, and they often 
chose to destroy them in infancy. Their religious 
ideas were based on magic and superstition. Dyaus, 
or the sky, was their god. They were physically 
vigorous, but without the refinements of civilization. 
Their advance toward the civilized state was slow 
but sure. The people erected crude huts for homes, 
but the domestic architecture improved as the 
people advanced. Family life was gradually organ- 
ized into a system resembling the early patriarchal 
household. Their tools and weapons were later 
made of iron, and then bronze made its appearance. 

Worship became more and more of a family 
matter. The strong and courageous members were 
highly honored, and tablets to their memory were 
kept in the homes. In this way ancestor worship 

166 



THE TEUTONIC RELIGION 

was developed. For a long time religion was non- 
priestly in character, and the head of the house offi- 
ciated in all religious ceremonies, but as the social 
instinct developed, and families acted together in 
civic matters, worship took on a civic character, and 
priests were selected to conduct the worship. As 
they advanced in general intelligence, they developed 
a worship that was in harmony with the character 
they attributed to Dyaus. 

Feudalism gained a hold among these people 
such as it never attained anywhere else in the world, 
and it retained its hold on their descendants longer 
than anywhere else. Let us hope that the dethrone- 
ment of the Hohenzollerns and Hapsburgs marks its 
exodus from civilization, and that no man will ever 
again be in a place of power who feels that he is the 
superman, a man who is the vicegerent of God and, 
therefore, of such importance that no one is worthy 
to place the crown upon his head, and that he must 
perform the service for himself. 

Early Christian missionaries seemed to regard it 
their duty to hide the beliefs, customs, and immoral- 
ities of this people from posterity, and so we gain 
almost no information from them. They mention 
incidentally that there was a custom of human sac- 
rifice on certain days in each year, and at other times 
if great calamities were threatening. Caesar and 
Tacitus both speak of these early Germans as "un- 
tutored savages." They worshiped often in groves 
and under the open heavens. These were regarded 
as the most suitable temples for the gods. The 
sacred standards were moved from place to place by 
the priests and kept at the head of the tribes and 

167 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

armies. The priests had charge of the white horse, 
whose neighing was supposed to reveal the will of 
the god. 

The peasants had wishing wells to which they car- 
ried their prayers, and threw them in as offerings to 
the spirit of the well. Sometimes they hung them 
on the sacred trees. They worshiped certain gods 
for luck. As literature made its appearance, it took 
form largely in heroic legends and fairy tales. These 
stories were first told of the gods, and were later 
woven into their history of heroes. They have come 
down to us in different form, but are still realistic 
enough to stir the imagination of young people. 

Teutonic religion took different forms and used 
various names for gods with the same attributes, as 
it spread among different people. Among the Norse- 
men we hear of Thor and Odin, then of Tyr, Baldur, 
Friggal. These gods are met with in Greek and 
Roman religions under different names. The war- 
riors and conquerors brought many of the same gods, 
myths, and superstitions with them to England. 
Many of the gods and goddesses were functional in 
character. Hulda was patroness of fishing; Fosete 
had a sacred well from which water was drawn in 
silence. These deities were idealized, but never 
represented by idols. In an early day blood feuds 
were common and were conducted in a business-like 
way. They were sanctioned by popular assembly 
and governed by rule. This custom has come down 
to us in the duelling among students in the German 
universities of this day. 

The dead were generally buried near the dwelling, 
and it was supposed that the spirit of the departed 

168 



THE TEUTONIC RELIGION 

inhabited the grave. The departed was spoken of 
as having gone on a long journey. He was furnished 
with clothing, shoes, and gifts, such as a traveler on 
a long journey would need. It was customary to 
burn slaves on the funeral pyre that they might 
serve in the next life. The people had holy wells, 
waterfalls, graves, stones, and various sacred objects 
which they worshiped. 

The blood covenant was a common custom among 
the people. The ceremony connected with it was 
simple. When two people wished to bind themselves 
together in indissoluble brotherhood, each spilt some 
of his blood on the ground, the other stepped in it, 
and then each wet a bandage in the blood and bound 
it around his arm. Sometimes each placed a ring on 
the finger of the other as an emblem of unending 
friendship. The ring, having neither beginning nor 
ending, is often used by primitive people as an 
emblem of eternity. The use of the ring in our wed- 
ding ceremonies has something of the same signifi- 
cance, and the origin of the custom is alike ancient 
and primitive. The blood covenant was the strongest 
bond that could be devised to bind two people to- 
gether — stronger than kinship or marriage. Early 
missionaries testify that the people often requested 
that they be baptized and received into the church, 
but stipulated that they should not be required to 
abandon the custom of eating horseflesh, killing their 
children, and taking the blood covenant. 

The Eddas or sacred books of these people were 
divided into the Elder Edda and the Younger Edda. 
The name Edda means "great-grandmother," and 
probably indicates the manner in which these tales 

169 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

were transmitted, unwritten, by dames of olden 
times. The Elder Edda is composed of thirty-seven 
ancient poems in which are woven some suggestive 
proverbs, such as: 

"Carefully consider the end." 
"A man cannot journey with a worse foe than 
drunkenness." 

"A man's own house, though small, is the best." 
"It is well to be wise, not well to be too wise." 

These early people believed that the letters of 
the alphabet arranged in certain combinations had 
magical virtues. These combinations were known as 
Runes. These poems contain wonderful tales of the 
adventures of heroes. The Younger Edda was a 
kind of family register containing the pedigree of the 
kings and heroes, and also some information about 
the religious life of the people, indicating that their 
early faith was monotheistic, but this did not pre- 
vent frequent tendencies to polytheism and nature- 
worship. 

One stanza of a hymn relates that in the begin- 
ning there was chaos: 

When all was not, 
Nor sound, nor sea, 
Nor cooling wave, 
Nor earth there was 
Nor sky above; 
Naught save a void 
And yawning gulf. 

Some of our most cherished customs originated 
among these strange people in a far-away age: the 
village tree, the Maypole dance, the Christmas tree, etc. 

170 



THE TEUTONIC RELIGION 

These people gave us eventually the Saxon Monk 
who nailed to the royal chapel door in 1519 the 
ninety theses that produced the Reformation and 
gave Protestantism to the world, but having said 
this we need to pause and take our reckoning. 

Hear Thomas Carlyle: "The Teutons had but 
little influence on history till the overthrow of Roman 
dominion in Western Europe, but from that time 
they played a very important part in history." "Five 
hundred miles east of Brandenburg is Prussia (10th 
century) which is inhabited by these vehement 
heathens." "The first Christian missionaries who 
ventured among these savage heathens of Prussia 
(13th century) were murdered. After some fifty 
years they had tamed Prussian heathenism, but they 
remained secretly heathen." 

These people at whose history and religion we have 
had some glances have ruled Germany for the past 
fifty years. Their great intellectual achievements 
need not be cataloged. These are known to the 
world. The thing that challenges our attention in 
this discussion is their absolute failure and its cause, 
for their collapse is as complete as anything the world 
has ever seen. They have broken down religiously 
and morally. They sacrificed, on the altar of ambi- 
tion, everything that is worth while in life, and 
plunged the world into the bloodiest war of all time. 
In preparing for this debacle, they prostituted the 
most sacred aspirations of the soul. Their educa- 
tional system for fifty years was undergirded by lies 
and deception. This general statement is true in all 
departments of their education. 

In theology they undermined faith in the funda- 

171 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

mentals of Christianity and brought on a perfect 
mania of destructive higher criticism from which 
we have not fully recovered. Their social teachings 
undermined the moral life and brought on the present 
immoral conditions that are gnawing as a cancer at 
the heart life of Germany. Their military teaching 
has fostered in their soldiers a spirit of fiendish 
cruelty that has never before been manifested to 
such an extent by hurhan beings. They taught that 
war, murder, and robbery were legitimate business 
enterprises, and that the strong were under no obli- 
gations to respect the weak, but utterly to destroy 
them would bless society and advance "German 
Kultur." 

In preparing this program they put forth a system 
of philosophy and science that took God out of the 
heavens and turned the world over to chance. "Verily 
they have their reward," for "the wages of sin is 
death" and oblivion. While I write these lines 
(November 11, 1918) the bells all around the world 
are ringing and people are shouting joyfully because 
the powerful military machine has been crushed and 
the rulers have been dethroned. Their names will 
go down to posterity on the roll of dishonor and will 
be a hiss and a by-word for the unborn generations 
for thousands of years to come. 



172 



CHAPTER XII 

The Religion of the Greeks 

THE country known as Greece is a peninsula of 
Southern Europe which is about two hundred 
and fifty miles long and with an average width 
of some hundred and seventy-five miles. There are 
long and narrow promontories extending far into the 
sea, giving many fine harbors and rendering the 
country especially accessible by water. 

The mountain chains of Greece take up so much 
of the country that the plains are few and small, but 
some of them are highly fertile. 

There are many small rivers, mostly winter tor- 
rents and having but little water in the summer. 
Some of these rivers disappear in subterraneous pas- 
sages in the limestone rock, and sometimes into land- 
locked basins forming lakes which must have under- 
ground outlets. The country is divided into three 
natural sections: North, Central, and Southern. 

The early history of Greece is legendary and 
dates back 2000 B. C. The chief authority for the 
early history is Homer. His great poems, the Iliad 
and the Odyssey, are destined to be immortal. They 
were probably produced about 850 B. C. Not much 
is known of Homer himself, but such is fame. 

A hundred cities claimed Homer dead 

In which the live Homer begged his bread. 

173 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

The early Greeks were the most remarkable 
people of whom we have any record. They excelled 
in almost every line. The college student who 
wishes to major in art, architecture, mathematics, 
philosophy, literature, or even athletics, must famil- 
iarize himself with Greek culture. It would be inter- 
esting to know the origin of this remarkable race, but 
history draws the curtain and we are left in the land 
of speculation. 

While we are shut up to our own resources, let us 
meditate on causes which led to the greatness of this 
secluded people. They had the discipline of poverty, 
which has so often surprised the world. They lived 
in a land where the climate was invigorating to body 
and mind — a land canopied with blue and studded 
with diamonds, which appeared in all its beauty be- 
cause the atmosphere was clear as crystal — a land 
carpeted with green and decorated with flowers of 
every tint, that perfumed the vales with their fra- 
grance. They were fortunate in having leaders who 
gave to them great ideals and led them along royal 
highways of thought. Some people sigh for palaces, 
dazzling courts, gay society, and the ^clat of the 
populace, but history tells us that such surroundings 
do not, as a rule, produce the people who are great 
physically, intellectually, and religiously. 

The religion of a country is sure to partake of the 
life of its devotees. Religion influences life and sur- 
roundings, but life and surroundings also influence 
religion. The Homeric gods were like the men of 
the times, or perhaps it is better to say the men of 
Homer's time were like the gods he described. The 
gods could be wounded by men, but as they were 

174 



THE RELIGION OF THE GREEKS 

much stronger they were seldom overcome by men. 
The gods were immortal, and only those men who 
became like them in character attained immortality. 
Gods were good and bad like men, and a god could 
always be found who was ready to help men, no 
matter what their enterprise or motive might be, 
but it was always clear that there were points beyond 
which the gods did not assist men. Heroes were 
born of alliances between gods and mortals. The 
deification of nature is the central thought in early 
Greek mythology. When we enter the Pantheon we 
find nature enthroned and deified. The Greek was 
always trying to interpret the voice of nature. The 
rippling sound of the stream was the voice of a spirit 
singing with the water. A sound in the woods was 
from living inhabitants in the trees. The rainbow 
was a midway station where happy spirits held joyful 
counsel as they journeyed from earth to heaven. 
Every spring and fountain had its naiad, nymphs 
peopled glades and dells, and each oak had its dryad, 
while unnamed gods sported in the breezes and basked 
in the sunlight. 

There were twelve Olympic gods, generally spoken 
of as supreme gods. Of these six were male (Zeus, 
Poseidon, Apollo, Ares, Hephaestus, and Hermes) 
and six female (Hera, Athene, Artemis, Aphrodite, 
Hestia, and Demeter). Below these in grandeur and 
influence were gods known as superior ones, such as 
Aeolus, Hyperion, Hades, etc. Below these were 
gods who served as cup-bearers and servants and 
handmaids of the more exalted gods, and still in- 
ferior to these were ghosts, shadows, spirits, and 
monsters. Kronos was a savage god and gave 

175 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

heaven, earth, and hell to his three sons. To Zeus 
he gave the upper heavens and located him on 
Mount Olympus, giving him supreme power. He 
was to be known as the First and the Last. Hera 
was his wife and the queen of the Olympian court. 
He then gave to Poseidon power over the sea, and 
put the underworld in the keeping of Hades. 

Apollo, a terrestrial god, was patron of healing, 
eloquence, poetry, and music. Athene represented 
the highest and purest Greek spirit. She was the 
patroness of wifely and motherly graces. She sprang 
from the head of Zeus. Aphrodite was the goddess 
of beauty and love. 

These gods and thousands of others were human- 
ized. They ate, drank, slept, made love and war. 
"They lived, laughed, quarreled, and sinned in the 
Olympian commonwealth as if they belonged to the 
Agora." As this commonwealth is pictured, the 
gods and goddesses were liars, cheats, drunkards, 
and grossly immoral, and the worshipers became 
equally worldly, sordid, and immoral. 

Doubtless Macaulay did not exaggerate the facts 
when he said that when Greece had reached the 
highest point intellectually and religiously, she had 
sunken to the lowest depths morally. Their great 
intellectual achievements gave no place to ethics, 
and their beautiful religious customs had no moral 
significance. 

It is interesting and suggestive to notice how 
other nations took over the Greek gods and gave to 
them other names and adopted the ideas for which 
they stood. The Latin name of Zeus was Jupiter; 
Poseidon was Neptune; Ares was Mars; Hephaistos 

176 



THE RELIGION OF THE GREEKS 

was Vulcan; Hermes was Mercury; Athene was 
Minerva; Artemis was Diana; Aphrodite was Venus; 
Hestia was Vesta; while Demeter was called Ceres. 

Homer was the founder of Greek religion, if we 
can allow that a loose federation of different and 
conflicting cults deserves to be called a religion. 
The priests could offer sacrifice at the shrines, but 
the head of the house could also offer sacrifice. This 
custom finally assumed the form of ancestor worship. 
The temple worship often led to feasts, music, drunk- 
enness, and vice. In the temple sacrifices there was 
no acknowledgment of sin, and consequently there 
was no thought of expiation. The temple festival 
was a gala day — a day when the people not only 
sported with one another, but also with the gods. 
With some they would joke and jest, and at others 
they would sneer, while to others they would throw 
kisses. At these festivals religion appeared at its 
worst and also at its best. The Eleusian Mysteries 
were closely connected with these diversions. Ad- 
mission to these mysteries was believed to assure im- 
mortal happiness, but while they were a part of the 
religious worship, only the initiated knew anything 
of their secret rites. There was a band of people 
much like the Salvation Army that traveled through 
the country, drumming up recruits for the Mysteries. 
They sold apparatus for the initiation, drums, books, 
fawn skins, tambourines, snakes, etc. One of De- 
mosthenes' most cutting satires refers to this custom. 

The Greeks were firm believers in immortality 
and had much to say about the life beyond the grave. 
The dead were given things that were supposed to 
be useful in the next life. Slaves were sometimes 

177 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

interred with the dead that they might serve in the 
next world. Favorite animals of the departed were 
killed that they too might go into the spirit world to 
again be pets or be useful, as the case might be. The 
corpse was carried to the grave in an open coffin 
and in a sitting position, indicating that the departed 
was not dead but was observing and interested in 
the things that were going on in the funeral proces- 
sion. The writer has witnessed this custom as it is 
observed to-day in Greece, also in Japan. The im- 
mortality of the soul or ego is assumed in their 
philosophy, poetry, and indeed in all their history. 

The Dionysiac religion and the Thracian singer, 
Orpheus, who could charm savages and wild beasts 
by the music of his lyre, had much to do in thrilling 
the Greek people with the hope of immortality, and 
the idea spread by means of missionary propaganda 
and resulted in the formation of societies and cults 
not unlike the Christian churches. Some of the 
philosophers became what we would call itinerant 
evangelists and were zealous in promoting ideas much 
like the new birth as taught by Christ to Nicodemus. 

Greece boasted of seven philosophical schools, no 
two of which handled the great problems of existence 
in the same way. The Academy was founded by 
Plato, but it was Socrates who stressed conscience 
and asserted that virtue is the most desirable thing. 
He was an enthusiast in pursuit of truth. He said: 
*'A man that hath arrayed his soul in its own proper 
jewels, which are wisdom, temperance, courage, and 
justice, is prepared to go at the appointed hour on 
his journey to the other world." With the hemlock 
at his lips, he said to his weeping friends: "I take 

178 



THE RELIGION OF THE GREEKS 

comfort in the hope that something remains of man 
after death.** Socrates left the foundation on which 
Plato built up his doctrine of truth and immortality, 
based on his firm belief in a personal, immutable, and 
eternal God. The Stoics, so called because Zeno, 
the founder of the school, held his meetings and met 
his disciples on a porch — stoa. He emphasized the 
idea that nothing is higher than duty or more heroic 
than self-mastery. They taught that all emotions 
should be suppressed and pain treated as though it 
had no existence. The Stoics were fatalists. 

The school founded by Epicurus was just the 
opposite of that founded by Zeno. They were ma- 
terialists — matter is all, and the apparent order of 
the universe is the result of a fortuitous concourse of 
matter or atoms, thus ruling out God, responsibility, 
and immortality. Epicurus taught that pleasure is 
the highest good, and that death ends all, hence his 
motto: ''Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die." 

The Sophists were quibblers who denied that 
there was any difference between right and wrong. 
They argued that "Might makes right," "To know 
one thing is to know everything, but there is no such 
thing as knowing anything," etc. 

The Cynics were misanthropes, who affected a 
contempt for the world and the opinions of men. 
The Skeptics were agnostics who tried to glorify 
doubt. This school was founded by Pyrro. He 
taught: "All things are uncertain, for there is no 
standard of truth." "We assert nothing, not even 
that we assert nothing." One has defined the agnostic 
as: "The man who says he knows nothing, and gen- 
erally gets mad when you agree with him." 

179 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

The Peripatetic school was so named because the 
students walked while they studied — attempted to 
develop the body and the mind at the same time. 
This school was founded by Aristotle, who originated 
the inductive method of reasoning, which is reasoning 
from particulars to universals. It has well been said 
that this process was the beginning of science. The 
method of Plato was just the opposite. 

The Greeks were feeling after God for a thousand 
years before Paul so tactfully revealed Him to them. 
These philosophers prepared the way for the gospel, 
and some of them were preachers of righteousness 
without realizing it. Some of their maxims were 
admirable, such as: 

"Know thyseUr —Solon. 

"Consider the end." — Chilo. 

"Avoid extremes." — Cleobulus. 

"Seize time by the forelock." — Pittacus. 

"Nothing is impossible to industry." — Periander, 

The decisions of the courts of Greece became cor- 
rupted and perverted by wealth, until the people 
longed for the good old days when idleness, beggary, 
and excess in dress were punished. At that time the 
law punished usury. As times changed and people 
felt the pressure of injustice, political and social un- 
rest became universal and the Golden Age of Greece 
was gradually eclipsed. 

Welcker says that with all the changes that came 
to the Greek people, they never lost sight of mono- 
theistic supremacy, and to this idea, more than to 
those previously mentioned, is due the greatness and 
power of the Hellenic race. 

180 



CHAPTER XIII 

The Religion of Rome 

ITALY is 750 miles long, with an average breadth 
of 150 miles, thus giving a litoral extent which is 
quite unusual for so small an area. This fertile 
peninsula is protected on the north by the Alps, 
whose height varies from four thousand to fifteen 
thousand feet. Northern Italy is largely a plain, 
while Southern Italy is mostly mountains. Lakes are 
numerous in the north but rare in the south. 

The islands belonging to Italy are valuable 
though of small area. Sicily produces much wine, 
corn, and sulphur, while Sardinia, Corsica, and Elba 
are rich in minerals. Th^ latter is noted especially 
for its iron ore. Sicily is an irregular triangle and 
contains about 10,000 square miles. Italy falls 
naturally into three divisons: North, Central, and 
South. 

The people of early historic Italy were Etruscans 
or Tuscans, whose origin is shrouded in mystery. 
The early history of Rome is legendary and unre- 
liable. Much light has been thrown on the origin 
and development of this historic land in the past 
seventy-five years. The Romans belonged to the 
Latin branch of the Italian race, and were the rulers, 
not only of Italy, but of the civilized world, for nearly 
fifteen hundred years. The mythical story of the 
founding of the city by Romulus made such an im- 
pression on the nation that they preserved it; for 

181 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

the visitor to the famous "Seven-Hilled City" is 
shown the wolf and Romulus and Remus taking their 
nourishment. 

The religion of ancient Rome was polytheism, 
without images, for the first 175 years. The religion 
of Rome was not so beautiful and varied in its con- 
ceptions as was the Grecian which it copied. It fur- 
nished but little inspiration to poetry or art, but 
served to keep alive the simple domestic virtues, for 
a time at least. The Roman gods were functional 
in their character: Saturnus was the god of sowing, 
Terminus of boundaries, Silvanus of the woods, 
Lympha of water, Seia of corn before it sprouts 
and Segetia after it sprouts, and Tutilina when it is 
in the granary, etc. 

The Roman saw in everything something mys- 
terious and supernatural. "It has been observed 
that these names of gods are all epithets or adjec- 
tives, and it has been supposed that there was orig^ 
inally a noun belonging to them, that they were all 
epithets of one great deity. The noun fell out of use, 
but was still present to the mind of the Roman." 

"Over the main entrance of every house was a 
little chapel of the Lares, the spirits of good men 
and of the ancestors of the family, to whom the 
father paid his devotions whenever he entered his 
dwelling upon returning home from a journey. 
There were public Lares, or protecting divinities, in 
each city under Roman sway, and these were wor- 
shiped in a temple and in numerous chapels, usu- 
ally located at street crossings." The Lar was sup- 
posed to watch over the roads, fields, and families 
and was one among many of the lesser deities who, 

182 



THE RELIGION OF ROME 

operating under a higher power, served the indi- 
vidual, the community, and the state. Roman re- 
Hgion organized four sacred colleges. 

The Augurs ascertained the will of the gods. 
The people had great confidence in them and they 
wielded a tremendous influence. They frequently 
took advantage of this confidence and made unfair 
use of it. The Augurs were distinguished by their 
dress and a curved staff. They had many strange 
ways of ascertaining the will of the gods, such as by 
the flight of birds, and the entrails of victims. "The 
Haruspices interpreted omens and portents of many 
kinds; they were the recognized experts in all the 
freaks of lightning." "The Haruspices were pe- 
culiarly famous, however, and from which their name 
is perhaps derived, in the consultation of the liver 
of victims." The Pontiff, or bridge builder, was the 
mo»t famous of these functionaries. The Pontiff 
superintended all public worship. The highest 
magistrates submit to his decrees. They were so 
highly honored that the Roman emperor adopted 
the title Pontifex Maximus and transmitted it to 
the pope. 

The Heralds were guardians of the public faith 
of the Romans in all their dealings with other people. 
"In case war was to be declared by Rome against 
another nation, it was the herald's duty to enter the 
enemy's territory and four times to set forth the 
cause of complaint, once on each side of the Roman 
boundary, then to the first citizen whom he hap- 
pened to meet, and finally to the magistrate at the 
seat of government, and solemnly to invoke Jupiter 
to give victory to those having the just cause." The 

183 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

Flamens (or Kindlers) were priests of particular 
gods. One of their chief duties was to offer sacri- 
fices by fire. The one at the head of the order was 
the priest of Jupiter. These priests were allowed to 
hold offices of state, and yet the purity and dignity 
of their lives were carefully guarded by law. These 
priests were not allowed to go away from the city 
without a special permit from the civil authorities. 
Periodically the kings would have the people and 
the city purified and these Flamens or priests had 
charge of the solemn services. 

"The Sibylline Books, which constituted one of 
the most highly cherished possessions of the Romans, 
were believed to have been purchased by one of the 
Tarquins from a mysterious woman who brought 
them to Rome, asking an exorbitant price for nine 
volumes. The king having refused to purchase them, 
the Sibyl went away and destroyed three of the books. 
She then returned with the remaining six and asked 
the same price for the six that she had asked for the 
nine. As Tarquin again refused to purchase them, 
she went away and destroyed three more of the 
books. She appeared again before Tarquin and 
asked as much for the three as she had originally 
asked for the nine. The woman's strange conduct 
excited Tarquin's curiosity and he bought the three 
books, which were found to contain important reve- 
lations regarding the future of Rome." These books 
were given in charge of the Flamens, who kept them 
in a stone chest under the temple of Jupiter Cap- 
itolinus. These books were consulted only by order 
of the Senate and on occasions of great public in- 
terest to city and nation. The books recommended 

184 



THE RELIGION OF ROME 



that a god be sent from Greece and set up in Rome 
for public worship, which was done. In this way 
many foreign gods were brought to Rome and wor- 
ship became cosmopoHtan. 

First came Apollo and assumed the Latin name 
of Aperta. The books introduced by the old Greek 
Sibyl contained many of his oracles. In 496 B. C. 
came in the same way Demeter, with the Latin name 
of Ceres; Persephone, whom they called Libera; and 
Dionysus, called Liber. 

New gods were constantly added to the old ones. 
Greek art and rites were introduced into Roman 
temples, until gradually the very nature of deity 
was changed. "The Greek god, represented by an 
image in human form and moving freely in the upper 
world, was substituted for the Latin god, who was 
the unseen side of an act or process or quality from 
which he had his name and apart from which he was 
not." 



The Roman Jupiter was 
Juno 
Neptunus 
Minerva 
Mars 
Venus 
Diana 
Vulcanus 
Vesta 
Mercurius 



the Greek Zeus, 
Hera, 
Poseidon, 
Athene, 
Ares, 

Aphrodite, 
Artemis, 
Hephaestus, 
Hestia, 
Hermes, etc. 



With the foreign gods Rome took over foreign rites, 
customs, and superstitions until the religious ideas 
became a meaningless jumble and the worshipers 
scoffed at the absurdities. 

185 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

It was the policy of the government to be tol- 
erant to all religions. In the city of Rome especially, 
as the higher religious ideas died, there sprang up 
cults, worships, and superstitions of all kinds. 
The Emperor Augustus made an earnest attempt to 
revive religion, but was not successful. The priests 
were generally of the best families, but were much 
more interested in the festivities of religion and the 
outward forms than in the spirit of worship. They 
were leaders in festivals like the Lupercalia, Ter- 
malia, and the Agriculturia. At the Lupercalia, or 
wolf-festivals, the priests ran about the city girdled 
with goat skins, leaping and barking like dogs, and 
lashing the people with knotted thongs. They were 
equally prominent and often acted just as foolish at 
the boundary, domestic, agricultural, and war fes- 
tivals. 

Janus, the god of beginnings, was a purely Roman 
god. All openings of doors, gates, and the morning 
were sacred to this god. The month of January was 
sacred to Janus, whose temple was located at the 
foot of the Capitoline Hill. Armies leaving the city 
marched through the gates of the temple and, re- 
turning, passed through them into the city. The 
gates of the temple were always open while the 
Romans were at war, that the gods might come out 
to aid and that soldiers might return for safety. In 
times of peace the gates were always closed. 

The Roman law regarded certain persons as 
sacred — all priests, especially those who expounded 
the Sibylline Books, the Vestal Virgins, the Pontifex 
or leader of religious services, and the king. There 

186 



THE RELIGION OF ROME 

were originally five pontifices, and the number was 
afterwards raised to fifteen. This official exercised a 
great variety of functions and had a general over- 
sight of all religious matters, public sacrifices, funerals, 
marriages, etc. The Roman religion was legal rather 
than priestly, practical rather than formal, and the 
king was the head of the entire religious system. The 
Romans were better organizers than the Greeks, and, 
as we would expect, their religion is more of a system 
than the Greek religion. At one time Rome showed 
strong opposition to Greek culture and Greek ideas, 
but these gradually won their way because of in- 
trinsic superiority. 

As Rome gained wealth and power, the priest- 
hood partook of the vices of the people and became 
immoral, dishonest, and superstitious. As a result 
they were discredited generally, and lost influence 
with the populace until the office itself became a hiss 
and a by- word. The prominence they gave to the 
taurobolium showed plainly their ignorance and su- 
perstition. The rite is vividly described by Pru- 
dentius. "The man who was to receive its benefits 
descended into a pit over which was a covering of 
planks with many holes in them. Upon this a bull 
was killed, whose blood streamed through the orifices 
upon the man below, so that every part of his body 
was drenched with the saving flood and it touched 
his eyes and ears, his lips and nose, and he opened his 
mouth to receive it and swallowed some of it. When 
dripping with blood, he emerged from the pit and 
was greeted with adoration by the witnesses as a new 
man — one born again." 

187 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

Early Christianity was influenced by Roman cus- 
toms, and the branch of the church most nearly 
allied to that center is still influenced by many of the 
old customs and heathen ideas. Here is another in- 
stance of the vanquished giving laws to the victor. 

Though often far in the background, the mono- 
theistic idea was never absent from the religion of the 
Romans. 



188 



CHAPTER XIV 

Islam 

A BOUT the year 570 A. D. a merchant living in 
A% Mecca journeyed to Medina, where he died 
suddenly. A few months later his wife gave 
birth to a son, whom she named Mohammed. 

The human mind is so constituted that it dwells 
with interest on the origin of great men and great 
movements. One hundred years from the birth of 
this boy his name was called out in ten thousand 
minarets five times per day. 

Fifteen hundred years have elapsed and now the 
muzzein couples his name with the name of the 
Almighty and sounds it forth from the rising to the 
setting sun, and one-seventh of the population of the 
earth salam and the system of worship is known as 
Islam. This boy became the founder of a nation, 
an empire, and a religion. The religion is potent in 
Turkey, Africa, India, and is challenging attention in 
America. No one can have an intelligent conception 
of this marvelous man, of the religion often called 
Mohammedanism, of the social and philosophical life 
of many of the Oriental countries, without a careful 
survey of conditions as they existed two thousand 
years ago. This boy when a baby was given to a 
Bedouin woman who became his godmother, his own 
mother being in frail health and very poor. This ar- 
rangement lasted till he was about five years old, 
when he was returned to his mother owing to the fact 

189 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

that he had epilepsy. His mother died when he was 
six years of age and the boy was taken to the home of 
his uncle, Abu Talib, who was a trader and made 
many long journeys through Syria and Arabia, and 
even into other countries. The uncle frequently took 
the boy with him on these journeys. The boy's 
health gradually improved, but it did not become 
firm. He took a keen interest in his uncle's affairs, 
which did not prosper well, and when the uncle finally 
failed in business and became broken in health he put 
the boy with a friend, a wealthy widow, Khadijah, 
who was acquiring a reputation as a successful busi- 
ness woman. The boy showed great ability in busi- 
ness matters and in a few years had control of Kha- 
dijah 's flocks and herds. 

Tradition has woven into this business relation 
many beautiful romances, in some of which the rich 
widow is the aggressor, in others the bashful boy be- 
comes a bold knight. It culminates in the marriage 
of the two when he is twenty-five years old and she is 
just entering her forty-first year. Many things may 
have contributed to the marriage, but the dominating 
thing seems to have been love. They lived happily 
and there came to them six children, two sons and 
four daughters. The boys both died in infancy. 

The first forty years of Mohammed's life were 
not eventful. He was not rugged in health, though 
able to look after business affairs. He was five feet 
six inches in height, fair skin, piercing eye, long 
bushy beard, dark hair, pleasant countenance, and 
pleasing manner. He showed decision in every 
movement. He was a remarkable conversationalist 
when he was in the right mood. At times he was 

190 



ISLAM 

suspicious of every one and very gloomy. At such 
times he was accustomed to withdraw from society, 
claiming that his companions were invisible to other 
people. He had much to say of the visions he had 
and of the spirits with whom he conversed when in, 
what seemed to others, abnormal conditions. It was 
when coming out of one of these spells he announced 
to his friends his perfect submission to God. The 
idea of perfect submission being the central thought 
in his creed, it is often spoken of as Islamism. 

He revolted from the religion of his day because 
the priests kept idols, sold them to the people, and 
claimed for them miraculous power. Idolatry was 
being introduced by the priests that they might have 
added power over the people and at the same time 
reap financial profit. He attempted to unite in one 
system Jews, Christians, agnostics, and idolaters and 
make ancient monotheism the central idea of the 
creed. We may well ask whether he was not per- 
fectly sincere at this time. Mohammed seemed to 
have three characters in one, and yet each character 
was different from the other two. It might be more 
correct to say there were three periods in his life, in 
each of which he showed a different character. His 
life is divided as follows: 

a. From his birth, 570 A. D., to his "divine call," 
610. 

b. From 610 to the Hejira, 622. 

c. From 622 to his death. 

At one time several of his wives (he had eleven) 
asked for better clothing, and he immediately got a 
revelation authorizing him to divorce them, which he 

191 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

did. Khadijah had a servant by the name of Zeid, 
who was highly regarded by Mohammed. Some 
writers claim that Mohammed adopted him as a 
son. Zeid married a beautiful woman of whom 
Mohammed became enamored and wished to marry 
her. He got a revelation authorizing him to do so. 
Zeid yielded the point and Mohammed took her to 
wife. 

He organized and headed twenty-seven predatory 
expeditions for the purpose of enriching his treasury. 
In carrying out these he massacred six hundred Jews 
at one time; adopted many kinds of inhuman tor- 
tures; captured two hundred women in one cam- 
paign, from whom he took concubines and gave the 
others to his soldiers. The law said a man should 
have but four wives, but as many concubines as he 
liked, but Mohammed got a special revelation per- 
mitting him to take as many wives as he wished. He 
caused the destruction of the Alexandrian library, 
which act added much to the darkness that later 
settled over Europe. Mohammed took his cousin 
Ali when five years old and reared him very tenderly, 
possibly in return for the care that Ali's father 
showed him in his tender years. Ali married Mo- 
hammed's youngest daughter, Fatima. He became 
a dear friend and helper as well as a son-in-law. 

In 620 Khadijah died, and within two months 
Mohammed married Sauda and was betrothed to 
Ayesha, the seven-year-old daughter of Abu Bekr. 
This last alliance brought him much sorrow and no 
honor. 

Mohammed was a lover of titles and got them in 
every way possible. In his last years he boasted of 

192 



ISLAM 

two hundred and one titles. He ordered that his 
name be coupled with the name of the Almighty and 
used audibly in every prayer. Some writers insist that 
a man with so much vanity, inordinate conceit, and 
unbounded egotism could not be sincere in his claims. 

There is no indication in Mohammed's early life 
of any military aspirations. He was subjected to 
fierce persecutions during his early religious career at 
Mecca, and showed no inclination to organize a mili- 
tary resistance. During one of these fierce persecu- 
tions about one dozen friends from Medina happened 
to be in Mecca and urged him to flee with them to 
their home, which he did. This flight is spoken of as 
the Hejira. His going to Medina was the beginning 
of a change in his fortune and character. 

One of his first moves at Medina was the persecu- 
tion of the Jews after he had failed to persuade them 
to receive him as a prophet. He beheaded eight hun- 
dred of them and put their women in slavery. Within 
eighteen months after his arrival in Medina, he began 
the erection of a great Mosque and began the rob- 
bing of caravans to get the means to carry on the 
pious work. He declared war, made treaties only to 
break them, and gave rein to passion. 

Mohammedanism now claims about 225,000,000 
followers— 50,000,000 in Africa, 62,000,000 in India, 
33,000,000 in China, 29,000,000 in Malay Archi- 
pelago, 18,000,000 in Turkey, 14,000,000 in Russia, 
9,000,000 in Persia, and 250,000 in the Philippines. 

Every Mohammedan is supposed to believe that 
Islam is to be the religion of the world. While the 
doctrines of Islam are not well organized and often 
stated indefinitely, yet the ideas and statements of 

193 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

fundamental principles are clearly seen In the writ- 
ings and ceremonies of the people. "Islam" means 
perfect submission to the will of God; "obligation" 
means that each person is responsible to God; "broth- 
erhood" recognizes the relation of one person to an- 
other and the relation of all to God; "prayer" is 
communion with God and should be observed at 
least five times per day: (1) at dawn, (2) just after 
high noon, (3) two hours before sunset, (4) at sunset, 
(5) two hours after sunset; the "life beyond" is 
stressed, but through all runs the idea of fatalism. 

The Mohammedan Trinity is the Father, the 
Son, and Mary, with Mohammed as the Paraclete or 
Holy Ghost. The five pillars of Islam are: (1) Belief 
in one God, Allah, and Mohammed his prophet; (2) 
Prayer five times per day, facing Mecca; (3) The 
giving of alms, which was later a part of the tax; (4) 
Fasts; (5) Pilgrimages to Mecca, at least once during 
life. 

Mohammed attributed to his God malice, re- 
venge, despotism, deceit, etc. He regarded himself 
as the greatest of the 224,000 prophets who preceded 
him, of whom 313 have been apostles, six of whom 
have been on special missions to earth — the last always 
superseding the one before. The six are Adam, Noah, 
Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Mohammed. In early 
life Mohammed was a member of the Hainif society, 
which was an organization among the Koreish people 
whose object was to bring the people back to a clear 
recognition of original Monotheism. Later this so- 
ciety placed increasing emphasis on the unity of God, 
the existence of angels, and the inspiration of the 
Koran. They taught that the Koran was so sacred 

194 



ISLAM 

that it could not be translated, and that any attempt 
to do so was sacrilegious. They argued that great 
merit was attained by drinking water in which the 
Koran had been submerged. 

The heaven of Mohammedanism is materialistic 
and consists of seven compartments, one above an- 
other, in which are cool shades, gurgling fountains, 
and abundance of milk, wine, honey, pearls, viands, 
gold, diamonds, and black-eyed damsels, each of 
whom had eight hundred servants. Hell is equally 
materialistic and consists of seven compartments 
which are just the opposite of what appears in 
heaven. The punishments are numerous, the worst 
and most excruciating of which are reserved for those 
who do not accept Mohammedanism. The writer has 
been amused, disgusted, and thrilled by such realistic 
representations. He has listened to such descriptions 
in different parts of the world and found them much 
alike. 

In the Mosque of Ohmar in Jerusalem he saw a 
Mohammedan priest exhibiting the iron grating from 
which eighteen nails had been miraculously drawn by 
almsgiving. Only two nails remained and could be 
drawn in the same way, and when they were drawn, 
God, Christ, and Mohammed would meet on Mount 
Olivet and a hair from Mohammed's head would be 
the bridge over which the faithful would pass to join 
them and enjoy endless salvation, while the wicked 
non-believers, who refused to contribute, would be 
dizzy and fall off into Hinnom to suffer in everlasting 
fire. 

In Candy, Ceylon, he saw a Buddhist priest 
standing in front of a large picture on the walls of a 

195 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

temple which represented human beings writhing in 
flames while the devil turned them over with a fork. 
This priest insisted that all who did not follow his 
lead would sooner or later come to a like awful doom. 

In America he listened to a Negro orator picture 
the judgment day. God was represented as sitting 
on a mountain that was palpitating with heat, while 
the awful storm of His wrath was gathering. As the 
storm broke, God leaped from His throne, and drew 
from beneath it a mighty hammer with which He 
smashed in the sides of the mountain, and flames and 
lava swept the people away. In the first instance 
the people poured out their cash and seemed ready 
to give all they had, in the second they rushed into 
the temple to see the sacred tooth of Buddha, while 
in the latter case the Negroes ran from the church 
screaming with fear. 

So this realistic conception is not so much the 
fault of Mohammedanism, as of the ignorance of the 
people and designing leaders who are ready to ex- 
ploit the people. The remedy for this is in educating 
the people, purifying the leaders, and in giving to all 
a correct conception of the relation of God to human 
society. The Mohammedans are taught that a re- 
cording angel rides upon each shoulder of every in- 
dividual, one records the good deeds and the other 
evil deeds. They are also told that archangels, 
murderers, devils, and gnats equally execute the will 
of God. There is no harmony in these ideas. Mo- 
hammedan theology is a jumble, in which fatalism 
has run mad and pessimism depresses the people. 

There are many sects among the Mohammedans, 

196 



ISLAM 

the most prominent being the Bablsts, who claim 
that they are incarnations of deity, as was Ali, and 
that they are in the Hne of succession from Abraham, 
Moses, Jesus, and Mohammed. Sufism is a mystical 
and philosophical speculation, which claims that the 
world is in a state of flux and is flowing into and out 
of God. It is about as vague and meaningless as 
much of the Oriental speculation that is being intro- 
duced into the Western world under the name of 
theosophy, spiritualism. Christian Science, etc. 

There are four radical evils that are a part of 
Islam, viz., polygamy, opposition to freedom of re- 
ligious thought, violent persecution of Christians, 
and human slavery. Where Mohammedanism is 
dominant these things are correspondingly potent. 
The Koran speaks of woman as a cow and refers to 
her with disrespect. Woman is not held in high re- 
gard in any of the Mohammedan countries. In 
matters of religion there is absolutely no freedom of 
thought. Belief in Islam, or at least submission to 
Mohammedanism, is enforced, wherever necessary, 
by the sword. The opposition to Christianity is 
fiendish and murderous. People from Christian 
countries are spoken of as ''Christian dogs," and in 
many places their persons are not safe unless they 
are guarded by soldiers. The writer has been sub- 
jected to open insult in Hebron, Nablus, and other 
places. Islam has always been hand and glove with 
slavery and the slave trade. The slave routes have 
been the highways of Islam. Along these routes 
five-sixths of all the captives perished before they 
reached the coast or place of embarkation, and yet 

197 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

one looks in vain to find one word of protest from the 
missionaries of this cruel, superstitious, and immoral 
religion. 

The order in Mohammedanism known as Senusi 
corresponds to the Jesuit order among the Roman 
Catholics. It is a secret society for missionary and 
espionage service. It seeks to spread Islam as the 
kaiser does "kultur," violating every law of modern 
civilization under the claim that "the end justifies 
the means." 

Every loyal Mohammedan is supposed to make a 
pilgrimage to Mecca at least once during his life. 
The object of the pilgrimage is to visit the sacred 
Mosque known as the Kaaba, which stands in an 
oblong space which is two hundred and fifty paces 
by two hundred paces. Mohammed assisted in the 
erection of this mosque when he was thirty-five years 
of age, doing much of the work with his own hands. 
Inside this mosque is the Kaaba stone, which meas- 
ures six by seven inches. This little, black, greasy 
stone is the very germ of the superstition of Islam 
which has cursed and is cursing the world. Here is 
also the Zemzem spring which is supposed to have 
sprung up in the footsteps of Hagar, also the pulpit 
and stairs once ascended by Mohammed. Islam 
denies idolatry, and yet in the Kaaba are 360 idols. 

The world would indeed be rich in sacred litera- 
ture if it possessed all the sacred books that Moham- 
medanism claims have been written. 
' The Koran was not put into written form for two 
hundred years after the death of the prophet. There 
is not much doubt that we have it substantially as he 
gave it to his followers. It is claimed by the Koran 

198 



ISLAM 

that God gave to the world one hundred and four 
sacred scriptures, one hundred of which have been 
lost and the three remaining have been superseded 
by the Koran. Of these sacred scriptures, ten were 
given to Adam, fifty to Seth, thirty to Enoch, ten to 
Abraham, one to Moses (Pentateuch), one to David 
(Psalms), one to Jesus (Gospels), one to Mohammed 
(Koran). The Koran came last and contains all that 
is vital in the former revelations. It consists of 114 
chapters and 6,616 verses. The Koran (or Al Koran) 
is dull, unhistorical, superstitious, unscientific, and 
degrading in its teaching. Many of its laws are 
severe, but not enforced. The law against theft re- 
quires the loss of the right hand for the first offense, 
the left hand for the second, the right foot for the 
third, and the left foot for the fourth. This law is 
seldom enforced. 

If one would understand the marvelous growth, 
spread, and influence of Mohammedanism he must 
keep a few things clearly in mind. 

Mohammed had unusual intellectual and execu- 
tive ability and was moved by a profound convic- 
tion. There is no evidence in his early life that he 
was not genuinely sincere. That he was at times 
unbalanced mentally and that he was always emo- 
tional and fanatical there is no doubt, but with such 
handicaps a man may be sincere and at times show 
great intellectual ability. 

When Mohammed came upon the stage of action, 
Judaism and Christianity were at a low ebb in 
Arabia and the professors of these religions were 
grossly inconsistent in their lives. The great mass 
of the people were yearning for something they did 

199 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

not find in the religions of the day. They were ready 
to try something new. Islam promised to be the 
panacea they sought. The soil was ready and all 
that was needed to spread the new doctrine was the 
zeal of Mohammed and his early followers. The 
early successes opened to these religious leaders new 
vistas and they became intoxicated with the thought 
of numbers, greatness, power, and wealth. This am- 
bition became their spiritual and moral ruin, and has 
cursed the world with a religion that seemed so 
earnest and innocent in its inception. 

Early in its history ambition grasped the sword 
and called upon the people to rally to the Crescent, 
promising to all who fell in battle an honored place 
in the Mohammedan heaven, and to those who sur- 
vived share and share alike in all wealth taken by 
the sword, and a division of all the beautiful girls, 
taken in war, as concubines. Such a movement 
would naturally attract to its standard a horde of 
conscienceless villains. Such is the Islam of to-day. 

A short time before the beginning of the recent 
war, the following article appeared in a religious 
journal: 

Editor the Christian Advocate: While being char- 
itable toward the Turks, yet there are some things 
that can be said of them which cannot be said of 
the Chinese, with whom your correspondent brought 
them into comparison in your issue of November 14. 
The Turks have been in contact with Christian 
civilization for 500 years, yet how little they have 
learned! Of contributions to the general good, how 
little have they to show! Nothing in art, in science, 
in literature, in morals, is distinctly Turkish. They 
seem utterly impervious to change. The crust of 

200 



ISLAM 

their ancient faith prevents the inception of any 
ideas that would disturb their past. Refusing to 
receive anything of value from the impact of the 
Christian nations, they have contributed nothing of 
value. The government itself has adopted massacre 
as a measure of the administration. The sporadic 
Boxer rebellion is the only instance where the Chinese 
court or government was implicated in the murder 
of Christians, and then it was more a protest against 
foreign interference than against Christianity. But 
this administrative method of controlling the subject 
races of the Turkish empire was reduced to a fine art 
by the deposed Sultan. His reign was marked by 
dreadful massacres in every part of his domain. 
Tens of thousands of Armenians, Bulgarians, Greeks, 
Druses, and other races were put to death by this 
infamous wretch. In 1896 I made a careful tabula- 
tion of the results of the Armenian massacres in 
1895-96, and this was the result: Armenians mas- 
sacred, 80,000; Armenians who died of want and 
cold, 30,000; in want by ruin of crops and trade, 
400,000; widows left through murder of husbands, 
40,000; maidens left friendless, 20,000; orphans, 
120,000; Christian churches turned into mosques, 
282; Christian churches destroyed, 568. 

Any apology for such hellish work is an insult to 
humanity and an affront to God. They have made 
murder of the Christian a part of their religion. 
The Koran is saturated with exhortations to destroy 
infidelity by destroying the infidels. No other re- 
ligion and no other nation professing any religion 
has made the massacre of the unbeliever the chief 
characteristic of its faith. The Thugs of India exalt 
murder into a creed of life, but it is not directed 
solely against Christians as such. No, Mr. Editor, 
the world will be happier when the Turks are driven 
into the wilds of Turkestan, from whence they came, 
and compelled to dig the desert for a living. 

T,j ^ , -n T Joseph Cooper. 

Newport, R. I. *^ 

201 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

Since this was written in 1912, the kaiser and the 
sultan — German "kultur" and Islam — have joined 
forces and made the most murderous attack on 
human society that the world has ever seen. The 
crimes mentioned by Mr. Cooper are mild when 
compared with what has been done since. 

Religion and education are two mighty forces 
that God has given to the world to uplift and bless 
humanity, but when these are directed by the forces 
of evil, they are equally potent in the destruction of 
everything that civilization holds dear. 



202 



CHAPTER XV 

The Bhagavad Gita 

THE Bhagavad Gita is better known in the 
Occident than any other Oriental writing. 
It consists of 770 verses taken from a volu- 
minous work known as The Mahabharata — an im- 
mense literary mosaic of two hundred and twenty 
thousand lines. ''It is heterogeneous, grotesque, in- 
consistent, and often contradictory — qualities which 
are scarcely considered blemishes in Hindu litera- 
ture." 

This poem contains many lofty sentiments, bor- 
rowed no doubt from older Hindu writings. The 
drama represents Arjuna and his four brothers 
battling with their cousins for the throne. Krishna, 
who is supposed to have died 3001 B. C, becomes 
Arj Una's charioteer, that he may become his coun- 
sellor incognito. Arjuna repents of the part he is 
taking in the war and seems ready to renounce his 
claim; at least he is represented as saying: "I seek 
not victory, I seek no Kingdom; what shall we do 
with regal pomp and power, when we have slaughtered 
our Kindred?" Here begins a pantheistic and philo- 
sophical argument that the soul is a part of deity and 
therefore cannot be slain in battle. Krishna says: 
"As men abandon old and threadbare clothes to put 
on others, so casts the embodied soul its wornout 
frame to enter other forms. No dart can pierce it; 
flame cannot consume it, water wets it not, nor 

203 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

scorching breezes dry it not — indestructible, eternal, 
all-pervading, deathless." 

The Bhagavad Gita, or the "Lord's Lay," "is a 
battle song uttered by the Supreme Being while the 
contending hosts are waiting for the signal for fratri- 
cidal carnage." In this battle the five sons of Pandu 
successfully encounter the one hundred brothers of 
the rival branch of the family. They gain the scepter 
only to despise it and court death. These warriors 
when in the agony of death discourse on pantheistic 
philosophy. 

Krishna is still worshiped as the Supreme God 
of good-fellowship and lust by the common people of 
India. 

The licentiousness of the worship cannot be dis- 
cussed in a work of this nature; suffice it to say, the 
center of Krishna philosophy and worship is at 
Brindebund, India, where from 5,000 to 10,000 
fallen women, mostly young widows, are inmates of 
the Krishna temples, and the licentious orgies are a 
part of the worship of this god. The idea that the 
Krishna worship and philosophy are helpful and up- 
lifting is a snare and a delusion. 

The Bhagavad Gita has eighteen chapters, as 
follows : 

1 . Survey of Army. 

2. Right Knowledge of Spirit. 

3. Knowledge of Right Action. 

4. Right Knowledge of Dedication of Action 

Leading to Spiritual Wisdom. 

5. Right Knowledge of Renunciation. 

6. Right Knowledge of Meditation. 

7. Right Knowledge of Realization. 

8. Supreme Spirit Names as Cm. 

204 



THE BHAGAVAD GITA 

9. Right Knowledge of Royal Mystery. 

10. Right Knowledge of Divine Powers. 

11. Vision of the Deity as the Soul of the Uni- 

verse. 

12. Right Knowledge of Devotion. 

13. Right Knowledge of Discrimination. 

14. Right Knowledge of the Division of the 

Three Qualities. 

15. Right Knowledge of the Supreme Spirit. 

16. Right Knowledge of Discrimination Between 

Godlike and Demoniac Attributes. 

17. Right Knowledge of Liberation. 

18. Right Knowledge of the Three-fold Division 

of Faith. 

The following synopsis gives an idea of the teach- 
ings of the Bhagavad Gita, as translated by M. M. 
Chatterji: 

As the armies stood in battle array Sanjaya said: 

"Evil must always support itself by experience, 
while good derives strength from faith in the absolute 
character of the law of righteousness. Evil is per- 
sonal and good is universal; the good man feels him- 
self to be upheld by something beyond him ; he knows 
that the principles upon which he stands will abide, 
come what may. The evildoer has no such confidence, 
because he seeks some definite object and does not 
concern himself as to whether the laws of evil are 
absolute or not. For the knowledge can bring him 
no consolation if he loses that which he desires. The 
chief incitement to evil is the past experience of its 
success." 

Arjuna then spoke: 

"Whenever a man loses faith three evils — grief, 
fear, and weakness — attack him, and when he asks 
himself, 'Is the goal worth attaining?* he is already 
falling." 

205 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

Sanjaya spoke: 

"The best man is the one who is equal in pleasure 
and pain, is undisturbed by them, and is possessed 
of wisdom, is fit for immortality; but egotism is the 
cause of grief, suffering, and violation of duty. 

"If slain, thou shalt attain heaven; if victorious, 
thou shalt enjoy this earth; therefore arise, with re- 
solve fixed on battle. Righteousness and unrighteous- 
ness are both ordained by the Supreme Power. Those 
who follow the path of righteousness find eternal 
life; the other remains immersed in darkness. 

"The nature of the Deity is the totality of his 
power, and he may exist in eight forms — earth, 
water, fire, akasa, manas, buddhi, air, and ahankara." 

The Lord spoke: 

"Let him who has attained to meditation always 
strive to reduce his heart to rest in the Supreme, 
dwelling in a secret place alone, with body and mind 
under control, devoid of expectation as well as 
acceptance. 

"Having placed in a clean spot one's seat, firm, 
not very high or very low, and formed of skins of 
animals placed upon cloth, and Kuca grass upon that, 
sitting on that seat, strive for meditation, for the 
purification of the heart, making the mind one 
pointed, and reducing to rest the action of the think- 
ing principle as well as that of the senses and organs. 

"Hold body, neck, and head straight and unmoved, 
perfectly determined and as if beholding the end of 
his own nose and not looking in any direction. Su- 
preme bliss comes truly to the sage — the yoga in 
meditation, whose mind is in peace, whose passion is 
exhausted, who is one with the Supreme Spirit and 
free from both good and evil." 

Mr. Chatterji, who translated the Bhagavad Gita, 
has attempted to make it appeal to Occidental 
readers by declaring that it is a revelation from God 

206 



THE BHAGAVAD GITA 

and in perfect harmony with the teachings of Christ 
as revealed in the New Testament. He closed his 
preface with a beautiful prayer to the "merciful 
Father of humanity to remove from all races of men 
every unbrotherly feeling in the sacred name of re- 
ligion which is but one." 

What is the real meaning of these passages and 
this prayer? Can Christians meet these claims and 
overtures halfway? Is there a danger of being too 
charitable? too radical? too conservative? 

A false charity is put forth by this Oriental 
philosophy which is both misleading and dangerous. 
*^ Charity is the watchword of indifferentism and is 
put forth by persons whose creed and lives are out 
of harmony with the New Testament ideas. The 
Bhagavad Gita teaches: 

1. God and the physical universe are one and 
the same. 

2. All events that transpire are expressions of 
the Divine Will, and that Divine Will is the author 
of good and evil. 

3. Krishna says, 'T am immortal and I am also 
death.*' 

4. Man is but the shadow of God and moves 
only as moved upon. 

Then man cannot sin; pantheism has over- 
ridden right and wrong; there is no moral distinction, 
and one religion is just as good as another. 

The Bhagavad Gita and the New Testament 
stand for the Fatherhood of God and the brother- 
hood of man. But in saying this they mean different 
things and produce different standards. The former 
stands for a materialistic God and the caste system, 

207 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

while the latter stands for monotheism, which means 
the overruling God who is a loving Father of all men, 
thus making men brothers and equals in the sight of 
God. This is the brotherhood taught by Christ and 
the New Testament. 
Mr. Chatter ji says: 

"The difference between the Bhagavad Gita and 
the Christian Bible is seen in the fact that the former, 
consisting of 770 verses, gives more space to the being 
of God than the latter, which is due to the difference 
between the Hebrew and Brahman races and to the 
fact that the teaching of Jesus was addressed to the 
common people." 

The comment by a Brahman shows the spirit of 
Brahmanism and also the purpose of the Veda, of 
which the Bhagavad Gita is a part. 

"All Indian authority agrees in pronouncing the 
Bhagavad Gita to be the essence of all sacred writings. 

"Beyond doubt, the Bhagavad Gita is the best 
book in existence for the study of the spiritually- 
minded." 

Many of the alleged parallels are fanciful, others 
are accidental, and others spring from natural causes. 
There is no possible reconciliation between the two 
Scriptures, for they stand for very different ideas and 
had a different origin. 

The Krishna Cult is the crowning or culmina- 
tion of the Hindu system, and the centers around 
which it revolves are the caste system, the doctrine 
of incarnation, and the deification of Krishna. 

"The worship of Krishna as a Bacchus is the 
most popular of all Hindu festivals, and is naturally 
the most demoralizing.'' 

208 



THE BHAGAVAD GITA 

This poem has wrought much evil in India and 
its influence has spread to America. People who 
have turned from Ingersollism, spiritualism, and 
agnosticism have taken refuge in the teachings of 
this poem as set forth in theosophy, Christian Science, 
and similar cults. Dilution and adulteration are the 
order of the day, and a little Christianity is made to 
flavor a thousand shams. 

The Bible and Bhagavad Gita agree on some 
great ethical maxims, but not on the great funda- 
mental truths of the Christian religion. In Chris- 
tianity, Christ is the "end of the law for righteous- 
ness," but the Yogas and merit-makers are seeking 
this end by mortification and torture. 

The Bible teaches that the soul returns to God 
by intelligence, confidence, and loving trust, while 
the Bhagavad Gita points the way to God by knowl- 
edge that is supposed to be reached through a maze 
of philosophical speculation that is grotesque, incon- 
sistent, and often contradictory. 

The Bhagavad Gita teaches the effacement of 
man, and his unaccountability, hence his inability to 
sin. This doctrine is not only unscriptural, but 
dangerous to the moral life of the world. 

The Bhagavad Gita says, ''The man of medita- 
tion is superior to the man of action." This teaching 
has filled the Orient with religious fakers, who refuse 
to wash or comb, ''the dirtier the holier," who sit on 
their rugs from morning till night mumbling prayers 
or incantations, and stretching forth their itching 
palms, begging alms from the passers-by. India 
is known as the land of religious beggary. Little 

" 209 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

wonder that it seems to be overshadowed by stag- 
nation and death. 

"Who can imagine Paul spending all those years 
of opportunity sitting on a leopard skin, watching the 
end of his nose instead of turning the world upside 
down!" 

The spirit that brought Christ from heaven to 
earth sent Paul over the earth. He was a philosopher 
who could combat the Athenians with the logic of 
God's love. He pleaded for every active virtue when 
he said: "Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever 
things are honest, whatsoever things are just, what- 
soever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, 
whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any 
virtue, if there be any praise, think on these things." 

We close with a warning from the Bhagavad Gita: 

"Stop! for thy tread is on the dust of many 
empires! They have disappeared into the dark 
night of time's insatiable maw. Stop, friend! and 
reflect on thyself — thy hopes, thy disappointments, 
and thy hopes again renewed." 

As we look out life fades away; 

Youth decays as day follows day; 

The days that go never come again, 

And Time devours the Universe. 

Fortune flies as ripples break upon the sea; 

We flash through life as lightning on the sky. 

The Shintoists say: "There are many paths 
by which men climb the sides of Fusyama, yet upon 
reaching the summit they all behold the same glorious 
moon." 

Christ says: "Seek first The Kingdom y for straight 
is the path." 

210 



CHAPTER XVI 

Confucianism 

CONFUCIUS was born June 19, 551 B. C, at 
Shang-ping, kingdom of Lu, China. About 
this time Cyrus was on the throne of Persia, 
Xerxes was invading Greece, and the Jews had just 
returned from Babylon. 

His father was a military officer of good family, 
who was seventy years of age when Confucius was 
born and who died when seventy-three years of age. 
Tradition has it that his mother was much younger 
than his father and that she was his second wife. 

He had tried in vain to win the affections of her 
two older sisters, and the youngest one finally con- 
sented to marry him, hoping to perpetuate his 
honored family. The death of the father left the 
mother and her three-year-old babe in abject poverty. 
Confucius in after life often referred to his early 
struggles with poverty, expressing gratitude to the 
gods who ordained that he should come up through 
poverty. Probably it was his own hard experience 
which led him to believe that such experience was 
the best school in which a young person could be 
reared. 

In his writings he makes frequent references to 
the dangers and temptations of wealth. These ex- 
pressions are doubtless the outgrowth of his experi- 
ence and observations. 

He was married when nineteen years of age, but 
the marriage did not prove to be a happy one. His 

211 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

mother died four years later, after much sorrow over 
his domestic infehcity. Confucius loved his mother 
dearly and mourned her death sincerely. It is diffi- 
cult to reconcile the love he bore to his mother with 
the views he held of women in general. It is easy 
to understand how his views would bring a domestic 
conflict if the wife had any spirit and will of her own. 

His mother's pet name for him was Kien (little 
hill) because he had an unusual elevation on top of 
his forehead which disfigured him for life and ren- 
dered his personal appearance anything but pleasing. 
He was slovenly in dress, and his hair and beard 
were never properly cared for. People frequently 
referred to him as looking like a stray and unkempt 
dog. He had a shuffling walk, which bespoke a rest- 
less energy and persistence. 

He was an earnest student of ancient literature 
and history, but gave his spare moments to the 
study of music, in which he became quite proficient. 

By the time he had reached the age of thirty-five 
he had attained not only fame but popularity as 
well. About this time he journeyed to the capital to 
meet the famous Lao-tsze, who was then in his 
eighty-eighth year. He was much impressed with 
the famous old philosopher, and referred to the inter- 
view in after years with great pride. The interview 
shows Lao-tsze to be gruff, crabbed, and conceited. 
He evidently looked upon Confucius as an insignifi- 
cant upstart. 

In 500 B. C. Confucius entered political life and 
was made chief magistrate in a large district. A few 
years later he was elevated to the position of Min- 
ister of Penal Law, 

212 



CONFUCIANISM 

He was much pleased with this promotion, as it 
gave him an opportunity to carry out some of his 
cherished ideas. He beHeved that all men were in- 
herently good and that they would do right if they 
were properly treated. In this new position he soon 
won such fame that some writers have left it on 
record that the laws did not need execution, as the 
certainty of justice led the people to do what was 
right. 

The plotting and scheming among officials was 
very distasteful to our hero and caused him to aban- 
don public life. His experience changed his high 
ideas of humanity and swung him to the opposite 
extreme, until he became a pessimist and lost faith 
in mankind. 

He entered upon public life with the belief that 
he could indicate nine paths that people would 
gladly follow, and that these would lead to a perfect 
condition in society. They were as follows: 

1. The cultivation of a good personal character. 

2. Honoring the good. 

3. Loving parents. 

4. Respecting officers of the law. 

5. Obeying the rulers. 

6. Regarding the common people as kindly as 
3^ou do your own children. 

7. Employing all kinds of skillful workmen. 

8. Being kind to strangers. 

9. Showing consideration to feudal chiefs. 

The failure of his plans changed completely his 
estimate of man. He came to much the same frame 
of mind Charles Darwin was in when he wrote, 
"The more I see of men, the better I like dogs." 

213 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

Here again we see the folly of a man trying to make 
the world revolve around his little theory. 

Confucius died when he was seventy-three years 
of age, leaving behind him an influence and teachings 
that have been potent in molding the civilization of 
one-fifth of the human race for the past twenty-four 
centuries. He was mourned by his disciples, many 
of whom built huts and stayed near his grave for five 
or six years. 

In trying to analyze the causes that made him 
great, certain facts stand out very clearly. He was 
conservative and looked to China's past as the 
Golden Age; his efforts were mainly humanitarian, 
and he possessed great executive ability. He is 
represented as being stern and lacking in personal 
magnetism and affection. He seemed to carry with 
him all the time a consciousness that he was in this 
world on a mission, and that he was safe from all 
harm until that mission was fulfilled. He said of 
himself: "In the pursuit of knowledge I forget food, 
and in the joy of its attainment I forget sorrow and 
do not perceive that old age is coming on." 

Some writers claim that he was incorrect in his- 
toric statements, and that he warped facts in order 
to shield his heroes. 

His teachings are suggestive and explain many of 
China's customs and beliefs. He was in no sense 
the founder of the Chinese religion, which dates 
back more than four thousand years. He wor- 
shiped the Supreme Ruler of heaven, or rather he 
adopted the monotheistic idea that ran all the way 
back through this ancient religion. He speaks of 
himself as a transmitter of this religion. He says, 

214 



CONFUCIANISM 

"He who offends against heaven has no one to whom 
he can go." He says much about man's relation to 
man, but nothing of man's relation to God. 

He worshiped ancestors and showed by many 
statements that he believed in their existence be- 
yond this life. He was once asked about death and 
replied, "While you do not know life, how can you 
know death." 

He said, "There are circumstances in which it is 
right to lie and misrepresent." "He who knows the 
right and fails to do it is not a brave man." He 
mentions five virtues: 

(1) Benevolence, (2) Justice, (3) Order, (4) Pru- 
dence, and (5) Fidelity. 

He warned his followers of the danger of seeking 
the friendship of the rich and socially prominent, 
and neglecting the poor, adding, "He is rich who 
knows when he has enough." 

He gave woman a very low position, saying: 
"Woman should yield obedience to the instruction of 
man, and help to carry out his principles. She can 
determine nothing of herself and is subject to the 
rule of three obediences: when young she must obey 
her father and elder brother; when married she must 
obey her husband; when her husband is dead she 
must obey her son. She may not think of marrying 
a second time. No instructions or orders must issue 
from the harem. Woman's business is simply the 
preparation and supplying of wine and food. Be- 
yond the threshold of her apartments she should not 
be known. She may not cross the boundaries of the 
state. She may take no step on her own notion and 
may come to no conclusion on her own deliberation." 

215 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

He said, "By pursuing the plain and practical 
duties of the hour, man can actually make this 
world itself the kingdom of God." He adds to this 
general statement the observation that, "He who 
follows what is right finds he is fortunate." 

In his philosophy he mentions nine things that 
are to be sought, viz.: "In seeing, to see clearly; in 
hearing, to hear distinctly; in expression, to be be- 
nign; in demeanor, to be decorous; in speaking, to be 
sincere; in duties, to be respectful; in doubt, to in- 
quire; in resentment, to think of difficulties; in an 
opportunity for gain, to think of righteousness." 

There are nine sacred books which were edited by 
Confucius and his immediate followers: 

THE FIVE KINGS, OR CANONICAL VOLUMES 

1. The Shu-Kings, or Book of Ancient History, 
giving the history of China from earliest times to 
720 B. C. 

2. The Shi-King, or Book of Ancient Poems, 
comprising 385 odes. 

3. The Li-King, or Book of Ancient Rites and 
Ceremonies. 

4. The Yih-King, or Book of Changes or Mystic 
Arts. 

5. The Chun-tsin, or record of political events 
from 720 to 480 B. C. 

6. Lun-Yu, or Analects or Table Talk of Con- 
fucius. 

7. The Tr-Hio, or Great Learning. 

8. The Chung- Yung, or Doctrine of the Mean. 
We need Equilibrium or Harmony. 

9. The Works of Mencius. 

Every city down to the third rank has a temple 
of Confucius in which all ranks of people offer to 

216 



CONFUCIANISM 

Confucius religious worship. The poor revere his 
name. His descendants, forty thousand in number, 
are the only hereditary nobility in the land. Their 
honors, pensions, and privileges gave been respected 
by all revolutions that have swept over China. The 
people who cease to worship God worship Confucius. 
An infidel said to a friend, ''The time is coming when 
people will no more believe in God than we now do 
in ghosts." The response was, "But when people 
cease believing in God, they will again believe in 
ghosts." 

The objects of worship among the Chinese ar- 
range themselves under three classes: 

1. Heaven or the Supreme Ruler, which is the 
same as the Christian's God. 

2. The Spirits of various kinds other than 
human. 

3. The Spirits of dead ancestors and heroes. 

China has a heaven, but no hell. The past, not ' 
the future, influences China. In every house is a 
hall of ancestors, where are tablets to which the 
ancestors are said to return when properly invoked. 
This worship is rendered by husband and wife jointly, 
so marriage is necessary to its performance. The ^ 
Chinese religion knows no revelation, no miracles, 
and no divine interference. 

Confucius is worshiped by gifts of grain, veg- 
etables, incense, and cooked meats. The animals 
used in sacrifice are cut up and distributed among 
the officers of the city where the worship takes place. 
There are no images of Confucius as objects of wor- 
ship in the great crown rooms of the Confucian 

217 



1 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

temples. There are one thousand, six hundred and 
sixty Confucian temples in China, in which seventy 
thousand animals are sacrificed to him annually. 

The teaching of Confucius was often epigrammatic. 
He generally presented one corner of his lesson, and 
left his students to find the other three corners. 

He gives his experience as follows: 

"At fifteen, I longed for wisdom; at thirty, my 
mind was fixed in pursuit of it ; at forty, I saw clearly 
certain principles; at fifty, I understood the rule 
given by heaven; at sixty, I understood what I 
heard; at seventy, my heart no longer transgressed 
the law." 

These sayings of Confucius are an index to his 
life and his way of thinking: 

"Grieve not that men know not you; grieve that 
you know not men." 

"Worship as though the Diety were present." 
"If my mind is not engaged in worship, it is as 
though I worshiped not." 

"I hear men's words and observe their conduct." 
"A good man is serene, while the bad man always 
fears." 

"There may be fair words and a pleasant coun- 
tenance where there is no virtue." 

"When you transgress, do not fear to return." 
"Learn the past and you will know the future." 



218 



CHAPTER XVII 

Japan, the Home of Shintoism 

IF you would see to the best advantage the won- 
ders of the Little Empire, composed of 3,800 
islands and containing 150,000 square miles and 
known as the Flowery Kingdom, you must time your 
visit and study the proper approach. In attempting 
this, however, you will likely find confusion in counsel 
as well as in routes, for one who has visited the 
country is likely to think he went at the proper 
season and selected the best route. This confusion 
arises from the fact that all seasons are right and all 
routes good. No matter how or where you enter the 
empire, you will feel sure you have happened upon 
the politest people, the most beautiful scenery, and 
the best route. 

Whatever your approach, you will feel that you 
are in "Fairyland," where the farms are big gardens 
enclosed by flower hedges; the residences, doll houses; 
the men and women, boys and girls; and the car- 
riages, baby go-carts. By the time you glide around 
a few hours in a jinricksha you will feel you have 
gone back to babyhood days. The jinricksha (jin — 
man, rick — power, sha — carriage) was invented by a 
Yankee missionary and is found nearly all over the 
Orient. In Ceylon, India, Burma, Malaysia, and 
China they are numerous, but not so common as in 
Japan. In the city of Yokohama alone are 5,000, 
while in the empire there are 250,000. There is cer- 

219 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

tainly no easier way to travel, but as you glide 
along behind your human horse, at from five to ten 
miles per hour, you will feel you are unchristian and 
as mean as a slave driver. That feeling will not last 
long, for these human ponies enjoy their part of the 
sight seeing. They laugh as they scamper along and 
take great delight in pointing out objects of interest 
to the travelers. The thought that they are making 
from fifty to seventy-five cents per day is very pleas- 
ing to them, for this is tsvice what they can earn at 
anything else. 

If you approach this Island Empire from China 
you will naturally call at Nagasaki, Moji, Shimono- 
saki, Kobe, Osaka, and Kyoto. In taking this trip 
through the Korean Straits and the Inland Sea of 
Japan you will see much of the scenic beauty, the 
commerce, the industr\% and the military' life for 
which Japan is famous. When you have seen the 
scenery and foliage of various hues, interspersed here 
and there with cherr>^ blossoms, wistaria, chr>'santhe- 
mums, and the whole scene ablaze with azaleas, you 
will say this combination has certainly been woven 
by some of the genii that inhabit fairyland. 

You will be impressed with the fact that the 
Japanese are a gregarious people, for they live largely 
in cities. There are forty-nine cities in the empire 
that have a population of more than thirty thousand 
each. In these centers vast industrial and com- 
mercial enterprises are carried on. Here are great 
ship yards w*here the hum of industry never ceases, 
and then the demand for ships is not met. These 
vessels carry the commerce and navies of Japan to 
all the important ports of earth. One must not get 

220 



JAPAN, THE HOME OF SHINTOISM 

the impression that the people are all engaged in 
building ships and railroads and extending commerce, 
for such is not the case. At least forty-five per cent 
of the people are engaged in scientific agriculture. 

Before one completes his journey through the 
Inland Sea he will have received some very definite 
impressions. 

a. The soil of Japan is fertile. 

b. The people are industrious. Every person 
seems to have a job or to be on the dead run 
to get one. 

c. The Japanese are an artistic people. The Sat- 
suma and Cloisenne shops of Kobe and Kyoto 
are famous the world over. 

d. They know how to make a modest home at- 
tractive, by surrounding it with choice but in- 
expensive flowers. 

The first knowledge of Japan was brought to the 
attention of the civilized world in 1295 A. D. by 
Marco Polo, after his marvelous Oriental journey. 
He related many strange and interesting things about 
a countr^^ he called Zipangu, afterward called Nippon, 
now known as Japan. Many of his statements re- 
garding the country and the people were considered 
as greatly exaggerated. Nothing more was heard of 
the country till a Portuguese vessel was driven ashore 
in 1542 at the harbor of Bungo. In 1549 Jesuit 
priests headed by Xavier went to Japan and were 
kindly received by the people. In 1600 a Dutch 
vessel with an English captain, William Adams, 
reached Japan. The captain was forcibly detained 
owing to his knowledge of ship building, but was very 

221 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

kindly treated. Captain Adams lived for twenty 
years in Japan and died there. 

But Japan did not burst on the civilized world 
till after Commodore Perry's memorable visit in 
1853. His proud flagship Mississippi dropped an- 
chor in the Yokohama bay and unwittingly trans- 
ferred its name to the bay. It was Sabbath morning 
and that noble man spread the American flag over 
the capstan of his proud ship and laid upon it God's 
Word, from which he read the One Hundredth Psalm 
and sang, "All people that on earth do dwell," and 
called his officers and men to prayer. He asked God 
that his coming might be a blessing to the inhabitants 
of that little-known kingdom, such as it has proved 
to be. On the following day he attempted to open 
up communication with the authorities, but the 
effort seemed to be in vain, for neither Daimio nor 
Tycoon would give him audience, and without this 
it seemed impossible to reach the Mikado. After 
many days, owing only to a fear of the great war 
vessels, a conference was finally arranged and a 
treaty was signed. This was a great day for all con- 
cerned, and the civilized world was concerned. The 
Japanese celebrate the day as the beginning of their 
great prosperity as a nation. Protestantism com- 
memorated the spot where the treaty was signed by 
erecting a church, where a large Japanese congrega- 
tion listens to the Gospel every Sabbath. 

Wonderful changes have taken place in Japan 
since the landing of Commodore Perry. Then the 
Shogun or Tycoon was the real ruler, with seat of 
government at Yeddo, now Tokyo. The heaven- 
descended emperor lived in seclusion at Kyoto. No 

222 



JAPAN, THE HOME OF SHINTOISM 

Mikado had been looked upon by the people for one 
thousand years. Three hundred feudal lords or 
daimios, surrounded by two million Samurai, or 
feudal soldiers, were intrenched in their fortified 
castles over the empire. The power of the Mikado 
was nominal; he was not thought of as an important 
factor in the imperial affairs. When one of the 
Mikados died there were two aspirants for the 
throne, who finally agreed to submit their claims to 
the public wrestlers. Each aspirant selected a wrestler 
to represent him. The winner in the contest won for 
his lord the throne of Japan. For two hundred and 
fifty years before the landing of Perry, Christians 
had been hunted down and subjected to cruelties in 
comparison with which the persecutions under Nero 
seemed refined. The people claimed the Jesuits were 
plotting against Buddhism, Shintoism, and the gov- 
ernment. The people were slaves under a cruel 
feudalism; foreign commerce was not encouraged 
and Europeans were looked upon with contempt. 
The rulers regarded Western civilization and educa- 
tion as nothing compared with Oriental culture and 
refinement. 

A change came as by magic — the Shogun relin- 
quished his power and went into seclusion. The 
Mikado came into the open and transferred his castle 
to Tokyo and sought audience with the representa- 
tives of the Western nations. This mighty revolu- 
tion enabled the daimios to read the handwriting on 
the wall, and they surrendered their powers to the 
Mikado and recommended that the Samurai be mobi- 
lized into an imperial army, which was quickly done. 

The dove of peace hovered low over the empire 

223 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

and the white sails of the commerce of all nations 
fluttered for the first time in the harbors of Japan. 
Christianity, that had given an uplift to the rest of 
the world, was unbound in the empire. Of these 
mighty movements was born an impulse that lifted 
the empire to a place of prominence among the na- 
tions of the world. 

The government is divided into ten departments, 
each presided over by a minister of state. There are 
three capitals — Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka. The 
present constitution of the empire was proclaimed 
February 11, 1889. This was the 2,549th anniversary 
of the empire. On that date the Mikado granted 
self-government to the people as a result of a sublime 
sense of justice. This is the first time in history that 
such a thing has taken place. The senate and parlia- 
ment require for membership a money consideration. 
The courts are swift and just in punishing crimes. 
A murderer is generally executed within twenty-four 
hours of the committal of the crime. The police and 
detective systems are very nearly perfect. 

A large degree of self-government is granted to 
cities and provinces. They select their own officers, 
but these must be confirmed by the central govern- 
ment at Tokyo, by which they can be removed at 
any time. The government has a system of espion- 
age, the thoroughness and vigilance of which are 
among the marvels of the age. It is almost impos- 
sible for a government official to cover up his delin- 
quencies in office, and the least deviation from recti- 
tude is followed by immediate dismissal and severe 
punishment. Sixty-seven persons were recently sen- 
tenced to ten years in jail for being in a combine to 

224 



JAPAN, THE HOME OF SHINTOISM 

introduce a certain book in the public schools, for 
which they were to get a rake-off. There is but little 
bribery and graft in Japan. 

The government controls nearly everything: 
lunches on railways, house cleaning, opium, etc., and 
yet the country is not governed to death. 

The present progress of Japan is one of the marvels 
of the age. One half of the population is engaged in 
agriculture, which is fast being reduced to a science. 
The empire is astir with commercial activity. Jap- 
anese ships and commerce are found in all the great 
harbors of the world. Educationally the empire is 
moving up very fast. She has ten universities, three 
hundred special and twenty-seven thousand ele- 
mentary schools, which have an aggregate of 4,355,000 
scholars. She is going to school to the Occident and 
the Orient is going to school to her. Teachers are 
prepared at public expense and must teach at least 
ten years. Mr. Neeshima, who founded the great 
Doshisha University at Tokyo, was ten years old 
when Commodore Perry arrived in Yokohama. He 
ran away and was educated in the United States, 
and was pardoned if he would return to his country 
and assist in organizing an educational system. In 
1907 there were 160,000 boarding students in Tokyo, 
15,000 of whom were from China. The secular press 
is getting to be a great power in Japan. There are 
six hundred newspapers in the empire. There are 
eighteen political dailies in Tokyo, with a combined 
circulation of 3,906,000. The first newspaper in the 
empire was started in 1871. There are one hundred 
and sixteen periodical magazines with a combined 
circulation of 495,000 copies. Similar progress is 
'' 225 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

seen in other cities. Twenty years ago there was 
not a machine shop In the city of Osaka, which is 
now the Pittsburgh of Japan and boasts of five hun- 
dred such shops, in which the machinery is run by 
steam power. 

The tombs of Daimios and Tycoons are architec- 
tural marvels, rivaling similar architecture of the 
Mogul period In Indian history. The finest in the 
empire is the tomb of lyeyasu at Nikko, on which is 
inscribed : 

PRECEPTS TO lYEYASU's FOLLOWERS 

"Life is like unto a long journey with a heavy 
load. Let thy steps be slow and steady, that thou 
stumble not. Persuade thyself that imperfection and 
inconvenience is the natural lot of mortals, and there 
will be no room for discontent, neither for despair. 
When ambitious desires arise in thy heart, recall the 
days of extremity thou hast passed through. For- 
bearance is the root of quietness and assurance 
forever. Look upon wrath as thy enemy. If thou 
knowest only what it is to conquer, and knowest 
not what it is to be defeated, woe unto thee; ... it 
will fare ill with thee. Find fault with thyself rather 
than with others. Better the less than the more." 

Some of the temples are works of art that should 
make their designers' names immortal. These are 
generally situated in groves which are away from 
the noise and bustle of city life. The floors in some 
of them are so arranged as to respond to the tread 
in sounds resembling the song of the birds of the 
country or vicinity. 

The natural scenery of Japan cannot be sur- 
passed on the face of the earth. It has all varieties 

226 



JAPAN, THE HOME OF SHINTOISM 

of beauty — the ruggedness of the Rocky Mountains, 
the picturesqueness of the Alps, and the artistic 
blending of the forests of Ceylon. The Japanese 
have a proverb — "Never say kikko [beautiful] till 
you see Nikko." There is a reason for the proverb. 
Two grotesque figures stand at the entrance to a 
temple at Nikko to frighten away demons, and they 
are surely ugly enough to frighten anything. The 
worshipers write their prayers on bits of paper and 
chew them into wads and throw them at these gro- 
tesque figures. If these masticated prayers stick it 
is a good omen. The tori, the Chinese character for 
*' Heaven," stands at the entrance to all sacred 
places throughout the empire. The adoption of 
European dress by the Mikado and the ladies of 
the Court, as well as by people in private life, is 
believed by many to be a mistake — destroying the 
graceful dress so characteristic of the Orient. Mrs. 
Cleveland and other American ladies joined in a 
mild protest, but without avail. It looks very amus- 
ing to see the "mixed dress" — derby hat, Prince 
Albert coat, with bare legs and feet, as is common 
in rainy weather. The risibility of one's nature is 
stirred by seeing these progressive people doing 
everything backward. The screw and the key turn 
backward; the writing is up and down and the book 
backward; the baby is carried on the back instead 
of in the arms ; you take off shoes instead of your hat 
when entering a house; they use white instead of 
black for mourning, and they laugh at affliction and 
misfortune, probably on the principle of 

Laugh and the world laughs with you, 
But weep and you weep alone. 
227 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

The obi — a sash, the regulation length of which is 
fourteen feet — is often of very fine material. The 
quality of the obi is supposed to indicate the wealth 
of the lady owner. They take as much interest in ex- 
hibiting it as ladies in .this country do their furs, or 
English women their royal titles. Married women 
often pull out their eyebrows and blacken their teeth 
so they will have no more admirers. Judging by their 
looks they have been successful. At Kyoto is Haga- 
shi Hongwangi (Buddhist) Temple; there are twenty- 
seven cables of human hair given by devout women 
of nine provinces and used to lift the beams into 
place. One cable, two hundred and fifty feet long, 
was the gift of thirty-five hundred women of one 
province. 

As to characteristics, the Japanese are dishonest in 
business. They will cancel foreign orders after goods 
are shipped, and if the case is carried to court they 
will stand together and proclaim a boycott on the 
firm. They cannot understand right for right's sake. 
They often insist on charging more per piece if you 
buy by the dozen, because the larger purchase is 
indicative of larger ability. Individually their credit 
is bad, for they are treacherous even to friends. For 
these reasons Chinese are usually at the head of 
banks and like institutions in Japan. Children born 
to parents in old age are apt to be petted and spoiled 
till they become overbearing at home and unpleasant 
among the neighbors. Japan is a child of the world's 
old age, and the petting process has been wonder- 
fully overdone. If other powers had not interfered 
the result of the Russo-Japanese war might have 
been quite different. But as it is, Japan thinks she 

228 



JAPAN, THE HOME OF SHINTOISM 

whipped Russia. While she was doing it she licked 
herself and is greatly embarrassed financially. Her 
head is turned, and may not get straight till she gets 
a licking she is conscious of. They are an immoral 
people. It could hardly be otherwise with their 
custom of the bath and Yoshewara system. It is 
hard for them to see moral distinctions clearly even 
after they become Christians. 

The ancient religion of Japan was Shintoism. 
The average Japanese is something of a religious 
triangle — influenced by Shintoism, Buddhism, and 
Confucianism — for Shintoism has by no means lost 
its hold on the people notwithstanding the influence 
of these later arrivals. 

Shinto is from "Shin," meaning God, and "to," 
meaning way, or way of the gods. Butsudo means 
the way of Buddha. They stand for different ideas, 
and yet millions of Japanese accept both and wor- 
ship in harmony at the same temples at the same 
time. The temples at Ise in Watariase are the best 
specimens of Shinto temples. There are 195,250 
temples and shrines in Japan that show evidence of 
having been erected by Shinto devotees. Many of 
these are small shrines located along the highways 
and mountain passes. Buddhism has about an equal 
number. 

Shintoism has no moral code, but claims that the 
Japanese descended from the gods, and therefore do 
right by nature. They have no cosmology and 
make but little effort to solve the mystery of the 
universe or of life. They have always, in the last 
analysis of their creed, been monotheistic and had 
great faith in a Supreme Being. 

229 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

The Shinto priests are called Kannushi, or Shrine 
Keepers. They are appointed by the emperor and 
graded according to rank. They wear white robes 
when in attendance upon their official duties, but at 
other times wear the common dress of the people 
and engage in the ordinary pursuits of life, raise 
families, and sustain the same relation to the govern- 
ment as other people. The priests do a thriving 
insurance business. It is claimed that in 1900 there 
were 7,815,570 houses in the Japanese empire, 
7,000,000 of which were insured by the priests against 
fire, thieves, plague, and pestilence. The policy is a 
narrow strip of wood about six inches long that is 
usually fastened to the door or just over the door. 

Shintoism has never assumed a hostile attitude 
toward other forms of religion, save when some for- 
eign religion has shown a desire to meddle with the 
affairs of state. Their intense patriotism has brought 
them into sharp conflict with the Roman Catholic 
Church on several occasions. 

Conformity to the rules of the family, to the cus- 
toms of society, and the requirements of the state 
are the sum total of Shintoism. Everything is re- 
garded as public and must serve the public weal, 
and the individual must always be ready to sacrifice 
for the good of the state. We are told that the three 
principal commandments are: 

Thou shalt honor the gods and love thy country. 

Thou shalt clearly understand the principles of 
Heaven and the duty of man. 

Thou shalt revere the emperor as thy sovereign 
and obey the will of his court, 

230 



JAPAN, THE HOME OF SHINTOISM 

The worship of ancestors is fundamental in the 
Shinto faith. Their spirits are supposed to be present 
at the family worship, for in the ancestral hall in the 
presence of the ancestral tablets they have a service 
much like the family worship in Christian homes. 

Shinto worship is in keeping with the temple, 
very plain and simple. There is a distinct recogni- 
tion of sin and guilt, and the consequent necessity 
for personal purification are also striking features of 
pure Shintoism. 

The Shinto temple (Maya) is built with great 
plainness. It is constructed of wood, but destitute of 
paint and gilding, and as far as possible, of metal. 
There are no idols within the temples. The only 
symbols are the mirror and the go-hei. The mirror 
is said to have been brought from heaven by Ninigi- 
no-mikoto, to whom it was given by the Sun goddess, 
Amaterasu. She told him to look upon that mirror 
as her spirit and keep it by him constantly and wor- 
ship it as her actual presence. The original mirror 
is in the temple at Ise, but a copy of it is in nearly 
every Shinto temple. At Ise, "the mirror" is con- 
tained in a box of hinoki furnished with eight handles, 
of which four are on the box itself, and four on the 
lid. The box rests on a low stand, and is covered 
with a piece of white silk. The mirror is wrapped in 
a brocade bag, which is never opened or renewed; 
but when it begins to fall to pieces from age, another 
bag is put on, so that the actual covering consists of 
numerous layers. Over the whole is placed a cage 
of unpainted wood with ornaments of pure gold, and 
over this is thrown a curtain of coarse silk descending 
to the floor on all sides." 

231 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

The go-hei is a slender wand of unpainted wood, 
from which hang two long pieces of paper notched 
so as to present a twisted appearance. This is for 
the purpose of attracting the attention of the spirits. 

The people believe the air is full of the ghosts of 
the departed and these ghosts are good or evil ac- 
cording to the character of the persons they repre- 
sent, eight million of whom are deified heroes. These 
ghosts must be propitiated in order to get the assist- 
ance of the good and obviate the wrath of the evil 
ones. Food is provided for them and they take from 
it only the substance they can feed on, and the food 
is then consumed by the people. 

Pilgrimages to Fujiyama and Ise are a prominent 
feature of Shintoism. 

The strange wood structure found before most 
Shinto temples has caused much speculation. It 
consists of two upright posts with a bar connecting 
them at the top, with rising curved ornaments at the 
end. It is called a torii, which means "bird-rest," 
and is now believed to have no particular significance 
save for the purpose indicated by the name. 

"The Nihongi narrates that in the year B. C. 2, 
at the funeral of a brother of the emperor, his per- 
sonal attendants were all buried alive, upright, in 
the precinct of the tomb, and that the Mikado was 
so affected by their sufferings that he forbade the 
custom." It is still customary to bury tools, clay 
images of men, horses, and other things that the 
departed is supposed to need in the life to which he 
has gone. 

The Shintoists recognize eight hundred myriad 

232 



JAPAN, THE HOME OF SHINTOISM 

gods and spirits. "During the siege of Port Arthur, 
Togo sent the Mikado a message in which he expressed 
the thought that the patriotic manes of the fallen 
heroes might hover over the battlefield for a long 
time and give unseen protection to the imperial 
forces." 

The oldest Japanese literature is the "Ko-ji-ki," 
a volume about one half the size of the New Testa- 
ment. It is a record of the ancient history of the 
Japanese people, but is doubtless nearer mythology 
than history. It is the nearest approach to a sacred 
scripture of the Shinto cult that we possess. The 
Nihongi, or Chronicles of Japan, is a work of thirty 
volumes and contains many of the stories and myths 
of the Kojiki, and gives many evidences of its Chi- 
nese origin. It is in Chinese style and reproduces 
the Chinese Cosmology. There is also a Code of 
Ceremonial Laws in fifty volumes, known as the 
Yengishiki, which appeared about 927 A. D. 

Shintoism is defective in that it failed to recog- 
nize God as a Father, does not recognize sin as a 
disease of the heart and life, does not give woman 
her place in the family or society, holds a very low 
estimate of life that makes the state everything and 
the individual nothing. The cult has much to com- 
mend it — faith in the Unseen, ritual of purification, 
concept of the heavenly ancestry, etc. As a religion 
it lacks the essential elements. 

In bringing this study to a close we cannot do 
better than use the words of Reuchi Shibala of Japan, 
who has been a lifelong Shintoist: 



233 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

"As our doctrines teach us, all animate and in- 
animate things were born from One Heavenly Deity, 
and every one of them has its particular mission; so 
we ought to love them all, and also to respect the 
various forms of religion in the world. They are all 
based, I believe, on the fundamental truth of religion; 
the difference between them is only in the outward 
form, influenced by variety of history, the disposition 
of the people, and the physical conditions of the 
places where they originated. As it is impracticable 
now to combine them into one religion, the religionists 
ought, at least, to conquer hostile feelings; to try to 
find out the common truth which is hidden in all 
forms of religious thought, and to unite their strength 
in searching for the common object of religion. 

"Lastly, there is one more thought that I wish to 
offer here. While it is the will of Deity and the aim of 
all religionists that all His beloved children on the earth 
should enjoy peace and comfort in one accord, many 
countries look still with envy and hatred toward one 
another, and appear to seek for opportunities of 
making war under the slightest pretext, with no 
other aim than of wringing out ransoms or robbing 
a nation of its land. Thus regardless of the abhor- 
rence of the Heavenly Deity, they only inflict pain 
and calamity on innocent people. Now and here 
my earnest wish is this, that the time should come 
soon when all nations on the earth will join their 
armies and navies with one accord, guarding the 
world as a whole, and thus prevent preposterous wars 
with each other. They should also establish a su- 
preme court in order to decide the case when a differ- 
ence arises between them. In that state no nation 
will receive unjust treatment from another, and 
every nation and every individual will be able to 
maintain their own rights and enjoy the blessings of 
providence. There will thus ensue, at last, the uni- 
versal peace and tranquillity, which seem to be the 
final object of the benevolent Deity. 

234 



JAPAN, THE HOME OF SHINTOISM 

"For many years such has been my wish and 
hope. In order to facilitate and realize this in the 
future, I earnestly plead that every religionist of the 
world may try to edify the nearest people to devo- 
tion, to root out enmity between nations, and to 
promote our common object." 

As I transcribe these words the Peace Conference 
is in session at Versailles and the world is hoping for 
just such a League of Nations. 



235 



CHAPTER XVIII 

Taoism 

DEAR sir, do you realize that when you re- 
quested me to write for you a concise ex- 
planation of Taoism and the relation of Lao- 
tsze to the same, you laid out for me a large task? 
You seem to be laboring under the common, yet 
erroneous, impression that Lao-tsze was the founder 
of Taoism. He sustains about the same relation to 
Taoism that Confucius does to Confucianism. Tao- 
ism in its broadest sense includes the beliefs, specu- 
lations, and philosophies of the Sages of China from 
2500 B. C. to the present time, as well as a belief in 
the magic, tricks, and superstitions of the luck doc- 
tors of the present day. I am not sure you are right 
in calling it a ''religion"; indeed, I am decidedly of 
'. the opinion that when you submit it to an analysis, 
i it will not yield to your definition of religion. 
/• * Its origin is wrapped in obscurity and lies far 
back in the dim distance — yes, far beyond the be- 
ginning of authentic history. 
^ Lao-tsze was fond of antiquity and reveled in 

old records and traditions, many of which he trans- 
mitted to posterity. In doing this he has given us a 
strange mixture of philosophy, superstition, and re- 
ligion. 

The ten great philosophers of early Chinese lit- 
erature were believers in the Tao. Four of these — 
Lao, Lieh, Chuang, and Ho-Kwan — were ascetics and 

236 



TAOISM 

wrote much on Taoism, but unfortunately their writ- 
ings have not been preserved. Early in the first 
century of the Christian era, Chang-Tao-Lin founded 
a new order and came to be known as Master, and is 
frequently referred to as the Teacher from Heaven. 
In his family there have been sixty-one great teachers 
or popes. The history of the doings of this family 
occupy a large place in the Taoist literature of China. 
These writers have attempted to define the Tao. 

Some say Tao means ''the way," or "the logos," 
"course," "method," "order," or "norm." Pythag- 
oras taught that Deity was the soul of the universe 
diffused through all its parts, while the Tao-Tah-Kin 
says "a nature principle or force pervades all cre- 
ation." This force is referred to as the Divine Being 
or Tao. One writer says, "the Tao is without be- 
ginning or end." Another says "the Tao is the 
hidden element in creation, and creation was pro- 
duced by it and is dependent upon it." Again, one 
writer says: "The Great Tao is universal; it may be 
upon the left and right; the whole universe was pro- 
duced by it and is dependent upon it. If looked for, 
it is not visible; if listened for, it is not heard; if 
grasped after, it is not attainable." 

Another writer says, "The Tao is light." The 
twenty-fifth chapter of the Tao-Tah-Kin says: "Be- 
fore the heavens and the earth existed, there was a 
something complete in chaos, silent and solitary. It 
stood alone and changed not. It may be considered 
as the mother of the universe. Its name I know not. 
It is designated Tao. Man receives his law from the 
Earth, the Earth receives its law from Heaven, and 
Heaven receives its law from the Tao, and the Tao 

237 



**^* 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

receives its law from Self." "The Great Tao is with- 
out form, and heaven and earth exist by it." "The 
Great Tao is nameless and nourishes all creation." 

This all goes to show that these early people held 
exalted ideas of an absolute being essentially separate 
from creation and yet pervading it in every part, a 
Creator, a Providence, with a nature of love and 
compassion. 

Taoism has been modified to some extent by its 
contact with Buddhism. Let us state this problem 
algebraically as follows: Tao is the X or unknown 
quantity that we have to find. What is predicated of it? 
How is it described? What are its attributes? Where 
is it found? From whence does it spring? How does 
it exist? What is its function? From what we have 
quoted we conclude it has existed from eternity, is 
all pervasive, caused the sun and moon, is the giver 
of all life, is formless, is invisible, inactive, and yet 
supports the heaven. This mysterious something we 
call "Tao." 

Chuang-tzu, the philosopher, discussing the evo- 
lution of the universe, says: "There was a time when 
all things had a beginning. The time when there 
was yet no beginning had a beginning itself. There 
was a beginning to the time that had no beginning 
had not begun. There is existence and there is also 
non-existence. In the time that had no existence 
there existed Nothing in a Vacuum. When the time 
that had no beginning had not yet begun, then 
there also existed Nothing. Suddenly there was 
Nothing; but it cannot be known respecting exist- 
ence and non-existence what was certainly existing 
and what was not." If you think this is nonsense, 

238 



TAOISM 

compare it with the statements of some modern 
philosophers. 

In the first chapter of Lieh-tzu we find this preg- 
nant statement: 

''There is a life that is uncreated; 
There is a Transformer who is changeless. 
The uncreated alone can produce life 
And his duration can have no end, 
Peerless and One, His ways are past finding out.'* 

Shang-ti is universally worshiped and is, with- 
out doubt, China's representative of a personal god, 
who from his pearly throne in heaven guides the 
affairs of the world. Shang-ti of the ancient classics 
and the Shang-ti of the Taoists are identical. He is 
supposed to be head of the world of spirits as the 
emperor is head of the world of men. The Temple 
of Heaven in Pekin is devoted to the worship of this 
Taoist god. "The interior of this pavilion is devoted 
to the worship of the chief god of the Taoist re- 
ligion." He is called the Imperishable, the Inde- 
structible One, The Highest of Spiritual Beings, the 
Pearly Emperor, etc. 

"According to the Taoist theory, man is to be 
regarded as a part of the universe, an off-shoot of 
creation, a manifestation, like everything else, of the 
universal and inherent Tao." Death is regarded as 
an inevitable and welcome change, a turn in the 
wheel of the universe, an event as natural as the 
fading of an autumn leaf or the succession of the 
four seasons. Death is to life as going away is to 
coming. How can we know that to die here is not 
to be born elsewhere? How can we tell whether in 

239 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

that eager rush for life men are not under a delusion? 
Death is a repose for the good man and a hiding place 
for the bad. Death is a going home again, and we 
who live are still wanderers. 

The Taoists are constantly urged to conform to 
nature as divinity speaks through nature. To dye 
the hair or paint the cheeks is to insult nature. 
*'This teaching has caused many to retire from the 
world and become ascetics, living in seclusion to 
study nature. They generally choose for their re- 
treat some rocky glen shut in by mountains, shel- 
tered from the sun by the thick foliage of the trees, 
and surrounded by every natural feature that makes 
a landscape lovely." 

There are many myths of old worthies who have 
been dead for centuries still haunting these secluded 
spots. The most sacred place is Mount of a Hun- 
dred Flowers. This is covered with wild flowers and 
is the lurking place of wolves and panthers. Legends 
say certain ancient Taoist hermits are partly im- 
bedded in the soil, who by living in conformity to 
nature have attained to immortality and are now 
enjoying unearthly bliss. Taoists like to speak of 
them as having their faces washed by the rain of 
heaven and their hair combed by the wind. It is 
claimed the luxuriant foliage and the bright flowers 
take root in their bodies. 

Taoism has spread through China, Japan, Cochin 
China, and Tonquin. It is especially popular with 
the poor, ignorant, common people. In some places 
it rivals Buddhism. In China the highest homage of 
the empire since 1368 A. D. has been given to the 
Taoist deity, Yu Hwang Shang-Ti. 

240 



TAOISM 

There are five orders among the Taoists, as fol- 
lows: 

Tsing-Men, who are dreamy, fantastical philos- 
ophers, who withdraw from home and society and 
devote their time to the study of Tao. They claim 
to reach a stage where they "float in the clouds and 
roam to distant places." They claim to despise the 
world and consider life of value only as it is in har- 
mony with the supernatural. They hold themselves 
aloof from business relations and worldly objects. 
They believe that eventually they enter the Tao as 
Buddhists do Nirvana. They do not live in temples, 
neither do they conform to any particular rites. 

Lu-Men are a priestly class of celibates, who wear 
long blue robes and large hats made of leaves of 
bamboo. They live in temples and are supposed to 
give their time to the study of sacred books and 
litanies. They are vegetarians and beg their food 
from door to door, and are fortune tellers. The 
temples belonging to this order are generally elegant 
and costly. These priests are mostly ignorant and 
profligate. 

Kiaw-Men style themselves the "Orthodox 
Church." This order was founded by Chang-Tao- 
Lin in the first century of the Christian era. He de- 
clined all political preference. He gathered to him- 
self about one thousand disciples to whom he taught 
magic, claiming that Lao-tsze appeared to him in a 
vision and revealed to him many important secrets, 
and commissioned him as a teacher from Heaven 
and presented him with many books, seals, charms, 
etc. This order is located mostly in the Kiang-Si 
province, where there are twenty-four palaces for as 
" 241 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

many overseers, a fine temple for the pope which has 
a near-by palace and treasury for his private use. 
They claim to have power over demons, spirits, etc. 
They were formerly called upon by imperial mandates 
to exorcise demons. 

Tah-Men are mostly astrologers, fortune tellers, 
and geomancers. They claim to have power to con- 
trol epidemics, etc. They select burial places, build- 
ing sites, and are experts in all matters pertaining to 
Fung-Shi. They are not celibates. 

Ko-Men are professional intercessors and hang 
out signs as doctors. Each town has a chief or over- 
seer, who has general oversight of the practitioners, 
who are very numerous in most towns. The doc- 
trines or beliefs of Taoism are peculiar and often 
contradictory, and may be gathered from the fol- 
lowing quotations and statements: 

"The Soul never dies." 

"Man has three souls: at death, one goes to 
heaven, one into the grave, while the third enters the 
tablet. 'The soul is capable of all shapes.' " 

"Deity is simply the soul of the universe diffused 
through all its parts." 

"Of all creation they say, 'All things were pro- 
duced from existence, and existence was evolved or 
produced from non-existence.' " 

"The devil is a malignant spirit, who frequently 
appears in the guise of serpents, beasts, and beautiful 
women." 

"Man, from birth to death, has four great trans- 
formations: infancy, early manhood, old age, and 
death. In infancy the feelings correspond and are 
one with the will and there is perfect harmony. In 
manhood the carnal nature is supreme. In the time 
of old age his desires are weak, and worldly matters 
are no longer in the ascendant." 

242 



TAOISM 

Keats looked out on death and said: 

Can death be sleep, when life is but a dream. 
And scenes of bliss pass as a phantom by? 

The transient pleasures as a vision seen, 
And yet we think the greatest pain's to die. 

They believed in "transmigration," the resurrec- 
tion of the body, the efficacy of prayer, and sacrifice. 

"War is a great calamity, because it destroys life 
and property, but especially because it does violence 
to the jewel of gentleness." 

"Man proceeds from God, who is his Father." 

Some of the Taoist moral maxims are decidedly 
interesting : 

"Recompense injury with kindness." 

"He who knows others is wise, but he who knows 
himself is enlightened." 

"He who overcomes others Is strong, but he who 
overcomes himself is mighty." 

"He whose memory perishes not when he dies, 
lives forever." 

"There is sin in giving rein to desire." 

"When people accumulate excess of wealth and 
goods, they become demoralized." 

"A man's heart follows his treasures." 

"For the pure man death has no terrors." 

"If you act at variance with your conscience, you 
will meet disaster." 

While Lao-tsze was not the founder of Taoism, 
he is the most Important personage who has been 
connected with it. His father was married when 
seventy years of age to a woman who was about 

243 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

thirty-six years old. As a result of this union Lao- 
tsze was born 604 B. C. The myth-makers have 
woven many stories of his early years into poetry 
and fiction. "At his birth he took nine steps and 
from each track there sprang up a lotus flower. 
The left hand pointed heavenward, the right hand 
earthward, and he said, 'In heaven above and the 
earth beneath the Tao, or Logos, is alone to be 
honored.* " "His head was round like heaven, his 
hair was seven feet long and white as a crane, while 
his eyebrows were like north stars and had a greenish 
color, his moustache and beard were white and had 
the appearance of silk, his ears were even in height 
with the crown of his head, his eyes like the light of 
the sun, the pupil was square with green nerves, his 
tongue was long and like unto embroidery, his mouth 
like a pearly fountain, his voice like golden pearls. 
The whole body had the fragrance of flowers. His 
walk was like the step of a tiger." 

Lao-tsze is believed by many Oriental scholars to 
be the author of Tao-Tah-Kin, which consists of 
eighty-one short chapters of five thousand characters 
and is a most remarkable book. For depth of thought 
and purity of doctrine it stands at the head of Chinese 
literature. Here are a few of the many maxims 
which are found in that great work: 

"By putting away impurity from the eye of the 
heart, it is possible to be without spot." 

"If you would keep the heart from disorder, do 
not look on objects of lust." 

"The faithful will meet faith." 
"Be chaste, but do not chasten others." 

244 



TAOISM 

"Being compassionate, you can be brave.*' 
"By being economical, you can be liberal." 
"He who knows the light and yet keeps in the 
shade will be regarded as the world's model. Eternal 
virtue will find him, and he will eventually go back 
to the Tao." 

"Heaven and earth endure because they do not 
exist for themselves." 

"The wise man does not accumulate. The more 
he expends for others the more does he possess of his 
own; the more he gives to others the more does he 
have himself." 

"Gentleness overcomes force." 
"Be sincere to those who are insincere." 
"The Tao would have you recompense injury with 
kindness." 

"Virtue owes its existence to vice, and is therefore 
the result of a fall from the perfect state in which 
neither could exist." 

"When merit has been achieved, do not take it to 
yourself." 

"By many words wit is exhausted." 

"If you would get to the front, keep behind.'.' 

"He who holds by force loses." 

"He who is content has enough." 

Lao-tsze is the outstanding figure in that death 
struggle which overthrew the old feudal order of 
China. Tradition tells us that Confucius went to 
the court of Chao, where Lao-tsze was keeper of the 
archives, to get some information regarding matters 
of antiquity. Lao-tsze said to him: "The men of 
whom you inquire are gone and their words only 
remain. Free yourself, sir, from your proud, dis- 
dainful spirit and your many aspirations, all of which 

245 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

are to your disparagement. This is all I have to 
communicate to you." Confucius departed and said 
to his disciples: "I know how birds can fly, and fish 
can swim, and beasts can run. Those that run may 
be snared, those that swim may be caught with 
silken cords, and those that fly may be darted. In 
regard to the dragon, I know not how he sits upon 
the wind-cloud and ascends up to heaven. I have 
this day seen Lao-tsze and he's a dragon." 

The story as it appears is not complimentary to 
either of these great teachers, and yet who has not 
seen a similar spirit of jealousy among great religious 
teachers in Christian lands! 

Lao-tsze's philosophy has degenerated into a de- 
grading alchemy and the Taoist temples are for the 
most part dens of vice, where vicious men gather 
for opium smoking and gambling. 

The superstitions of Taoism are gradually losing 
their hold on China, but while the giving away is 
sure, the process is very slow. One cannot travel 
through that great empire without being constantly 
reminded that he is in the land of the "luck doctor." 
Many of the people still adhere to the idea that if 
they want a lucky place to bury their dead or build 
their houses they must consult the "luck doctor," 
and he is wily enough to withhold his answer till he 
gets all the money he can possibly hope for. Till 
this answer is given the coffin still rests by the road- 
side. The minister of Fung Shi (or overseer of Luck 
Doctors) had an honored place in the Chinese Cabinet 
till about 1909. It is evident from this review that 
Taoism has degenerated and gotten a long way from 
"Tao." 

246 ' 



CHAPTER XIX 

Brahmanism 
1 



rTTlHE Aryans lived in Central Asia, on the table- 
I land east of the Caspian Sea, in pre-historic 
times. From these people sprang the Greeks, 
Romans, Anglo-Saxons, Celts, and Hindus. They 
were proud of their name, for they claimed it meant 
"of noble blood." 

These people had a well-organized government 
and were of a much higher order of civilization than 
the peoples who lived near them. They lived in well- 
ordered homes, had good roads, mills, mail service, 
and educational facilities. The literary activity 
among them was marked and of a high order. They 
wrote poems and fiction, and speculative philosophy 
was not unknown. They were monotheists and wor- 
shiped God in temples as well as groves. As they 
grew in wealth, influence, and power, they lost many 
of their high moral ideals and there is a marked de- 
cline in their literary standards and altruistic ideas. 
Government, power, and education are centered 
more and more in the hands of the few. Idolatry 
appeared and the monotheistic idea failed to grip the 
people as a whole as it had formerly done. 

As this important family separated into groups 
that settled in and influenced Greece, Rome, India, 
etc., they carried with them naturally their mixed 

247 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

ideas of government, education, and religion. One 
branch of this family migrated into northwest India 
about 1800 B. C. and settled along the Indus River. 
The Persians called the river Hindhu and the Aryan 
settlers Hindus. 

Alexander the Great crossed the Indus 331 B. C. 
and speaks of these people as being powerful and 
warlike. They had developed rapidly numerically, 
commercially, and religiously. The plan for increas- 
ing the population was not unlike that adopted by 
modern stock breeders. The natives of India ac- 
cepted the pretensions of these people, who claimed 
to be of a nobler and superior race. They were not 
simply "pretentions," for these newcomers repre- 
sented a much higher form of civilization. Sir Wm. 
Jones says of their language: "It was more perfect 
than Greek, more copious than Latin, and more re- 
fined than either." 

The Aryans developed the sciences, government, 
and religion, as well as commerce. Many of the 
sciences were known in India long before they were 
known in the rest of the world, but the systems of 
government, philosophy, and religion have especially 
distinguished India, for here one is in the land of 
contrasts — temples, grottos, vast wealth, degrading 
poverty, picnics, fakirs, holy men, refinement, degra- 
dation, superstitions, and yet of far-reaching systems 
of government, philosophy, and religion. 

2. 

The vast literature of India has naturally at- 
tracted the attention of the world. The Vedas are 
four in number: 

248 



BRAHMANISM 

1. The Rig- Veda Is bible and hymn-book com- 
bined, and consists of ten hundred and twenty-eight 
(1,028) hymns addressed mostly to Brahm. 

2. The Yagur-Veda or book of sacrificial rites. 

3. The Sama-Veda deals with the subject of 
penance. 

4. The Atharva-Veda is a book of magic and 
incantation. 

The Brahmanas are commentaries on the Vedas. 
The UpanishadSy fifty-two in number, are specula- 
tions regarding the Deity, the origin of the universe, 
the human soul, etc. The Shasiras are six in number 
and deal with the various systems of Hindu philosophy 
and are of great importance in understanding the 
Hindu religion. The Puranas are eighteen in num- 
ber and supposed to be very ancient. They treat of: 

(a) Cosmology. 

(b) The destruction of the Universe. 

(c) The genealogy of the gods. 

(d) The rulers of the different ages. 

(e) The history of the people so far as it is 
known or they have any written history. 

Max M tiller says the Rig- Veda has existed in its 
present form for at least one thousand to twelve hun- 
dred years B. C. The Brahmans claim the Vedas 
are millions of years old. All scholars agree that the 
hymns are not of any great literary value, are not 
elevating in tone, and are dry and uninteresting in 
style. The sacred books are just the opposite of 
our Bible, of which Joseph Cook said, "The Bible 
leads to God, and must therefore come from God." 

The Laws of Manu deserve special notice because 
they are the text-book of Brahmanism. They have 

249 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

existed in practically the same form for at least 
three thousand years. From them we learn that 
three thousand years ago Brahm was recognized as 
the Supreme Being, who was approached through 
sacrifice. In some places Manu is spoken of as the 
father of mankind, who escaped destruction by a 
flood in a boat which he built as the result of advice 
given him by a fish. The work is voluminous, con- 
sisting of dozens of volumes. 

The first book tells how a self-existing power 
created the world by first creating water, in which 
was placed a productive seed that produced an egg 
from which Brahm sprang. One part of the egg 
then formed heaven and the other part earth. 

Another book relates to the priesthood and their 
duties. The priest who knows the Veda and can 
pronounce O M correctly morning and evening has 
attained the highest possible sanctity and comes 
naturally into union with the Divine Being. This 
book condemns sensuality and teaches the importance 
of the strict observance of austerities. The student 
who properly reverences his teacher and follows his 
instructions will attain to knowledge that will be his 
salvation. 

Another book treats of diet, in which the use of 
meat is forbidden, as that would necessitate the 
taking of life, which is strictly forbidden. Another 
book treats of the acquiring of wealth and insists on 
great care for the rights of others, as well as purity 
of motives in acquiring and using wealth. Much 
stress is laid on cleanliness of body, mind, and soul. 
The body is cleansed by water, the mind by truth, 
and the spirit by knowledge. The duty of the wife 

250 



BRAHMANISM 

to her husband is stressed in many places. She is 
exalted only by honoring him, and any unkindness to 
him bars her from heaven. 

The sixth book treats of devotions and teaches 
the Brahman that if he would be pious he must be- 
come an ascetic, to do which he must relinquish 
home and family and live in the forest on roots, 
acorns, etc. He must allow his hair to grow long, 
clothe himself in skins, read the Veda, and meditate 
on the Divine Being. He must be scrupulously 
careful to atone for all insects which he accidentally 
kills. 

Another book deals with the duty of kings and 
emphasizes the great respect they are to show to the 
Brahmans. Some of the rules governing warfare 
seem quite civilized when compared with modern 
methods. The kings must see that no poisoned ar- 
rows are used; that a foe must not be attacked or 
struck when down or when surrendering; that con- 
querors must not exact too much from the conquered. 

Another book treats of criminal law and shows 
that a system of law courts and justice existed at 
that time that would put to shame some modern 
customs. The Raja was to hold court daily, decide 
all cases strictly according to evidence, and always 
have a Brahman associated with him. 

The ninth book treats of woman, who must always 
be kept in a dependent condition, as she is never fit 
for any other and is never reliable in character. She 
must not be allowed to read the Veda, for she has 
not intelligence enough to appreciate it. 

The last book is on transmigration. Here the 
laws of the soul are dealt with very minutely. For 

251 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

great sins one is condemned to pass many times 
through the bodies of dogs, insects, spiders, snakes, 
gases, etc. One who steals grain shall be born a rat; 
if meat, a vulture. One who indulges in forbidden 
pleasure shall have his senses intensified with no 
opportunity for gratification. Every act of life bears 
its own fruit. The doctrine of Karma is given a large 
place in all the Laws of Manu. 

3. 

The Hindu triad is Brahm, the creator; Vishnu, 
the protector; and Siva, the destroyer. There are 
some three hundred and thirty million (330,000,000) 
divinities in the Hindu pantheon. These are mostly 
personifications of the forces and phenomena of 
nature. To account for these, the Hindu mind sup- 
poses these different manifestations are emanations 
from the one Supreme Deity. Good and evil spirits, 
demons, demigods, animals, insects, etc., all come 
from the same source. As the people clung to their 
idol worship, the priests incorporated it into the 
worship of Brahm to curry favor with the people. 
The inconsistency of this combination is no barrier 
in the Hindu way of thinking. Vishnu, the preserver, 
makes frequent visits to earth in his efforts to save 
from the ruthless hands of Siva. These descents or 
incarnations are known as avatars. Soma is a deifi- 
cation of the fermented juice of the moon-plant and 
is worshiped as the giver of strength. Gunga is a 
goddess who is supposed to be the divine personifi- 
cation of the river Ganges. Tradition says she was 
born from the forehead of Brahm when he was 
dwelling temporarily on the snow-capped Himalayas. 

252 



BRAHMANISM 

The Ganges is regarded as pure and sacred. 
Many of the hymns speak of it as limpid, pure, bright 
as light, and life giving. Along its banks are count- 
less temples with flights of stone steps leading to 
the water. On these steps fires are constantly burn- 
ing in which the dead are cremated. Pilgrims follow 
on foot this river from source to mouth, often spend- 
ing five or six years making the journey. The priests 
swarm along the river like flies, selling wood to cre- 
mate the bodies of the dead. The price is high and 
the people poor, and many sorrowing ones are not 
able to purchase wood enough to burn the bodies of 
their loved ones. Often the charred remains are 
thrown into the Ganges where the worshipers are 
drinking and bathing. The Ganges is as filthy a 
stream as can be found on the face of the earth. 
Millions of worshipers come annually from the in- 
terior to bathe in it and carry away its ''sacred" 
water. Little wonder India is known as the land of 
epidemics that sweep away teeming millions. Along 
this river are houses for gods — monkeys, cows, snakes, 
and almost every imaginable animal and insect. 
Nature is ransacked for gods. There are great trees 
to represent great gods, while branches, twigs, leaves, 
and buds represent lesser ones. 

The Brahman is a pantheist who conceives of 
God as the Soul of the universe or as the Universe 
itself. "All that exists is God." To represent God 
in the different forms, idols are everywhere. Early 
Vedism knew nothing of transmigration, pantheism, 
idols, suttee, infanticide, or caste. It was a pure 
monotheism which gradually developed into Heno- 
theism, as Max Miiller called it. The Greek word 

253 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

monos means one alone, without a second, and from 
this comes the word monotheism. The Greek word 
heno means one but not excluding others, and from 
this comes the word Henotheism. The people wor- 
shiped the one god, but were willing to acknowledge 
that other people might have a god just as great, but 
they worshiped one god at a time. This liberality 
eventually developed into idolatry, and finally to a 
deification of nearly every natural object. 

Brahmanism has come to be an intolerable burden 
to India and has produced gods and goddesses that 
would make the devils of other systems blush. Kali, 
the wife of Siva, is the Moloch of India. The common 
image of this goddess has a black body, red palms, 
protruding tongue dripping with blood, a necklace 
of skulls, etc. To this goddess the thugs and cut- 
throats of India say their prayers and make their 
offerings before they start out on their expeditions of 
theft, murder, and rapine. 

India is cursed with religious holidays, from all 
of which the Brahmans reap a revenue. The sacred 
year begins with April, when bands of singers go 
from house to house early in the morning singing 
hymns in honor of the gods; flowers in great pro- 
fusion are taken to the cemeteries; women bathe in 
the Ganges and offer it flowers. This month is espe- 
cially sacred to the cow. The sacred bull receives 
special attention, consisting of feeding, bathing, and 
worship. Unusual merit is won by the people, who 
select a Brahman for special attention for this month 
— caring for his every want, repairing his house and 
clothing, and providing for him the most delicate and 
costly food. During this month all idols are bathed 

254 



BRAHMANISM 

and given food. May is mother's month, the month 
when all mothers bring their babies to the goddess 
Shusty for her blessing. Women get but little recog- 
nition in India. The lot of the widow is especially 
hard. It is supposed that her husband has been 
taken away from her because of sins which she has 
committed in another life. The widow must sur- 
render to the priests her jewelry, must dress in the 
plainest and cheapest clothing, and be a slave to her 
husband's people. There are some twenty-five mil- 
lions of widows in India, many of whom are children, 
thousands of whom are not one year old. Many of 
these widows are enforced inmates of Krishna tem- 
ples. May is the one month when woman gets a 
slight recognition. In June the Juggernaut is bathed. 
This car is shaped like a pyramid and is often seven 
stories in height — fifty or sixty feet. The car is 
generally given to the Brahmans by some wealthy 
person as a kind of sin atonement. They contain 
idols and statues made of gold and precious stones of 
great value. When it is taken out for an airing, it is 
truly a triumphal procession. He who is honored by 
a place at the two-hundred-foot rope by which it is 
drawn is sure of a place in the heaven of Krishna. 
Many who fail to get the privilege to assist in draw- 
ing the car esteem it a privilege to be crushed by its 
ponderous weight. 

At the time the Veda was written it was the custom 
in India to offer human sacrifice on occasions of unu- 
sual importance. Blood is the symbol of life, and the 
offering of blood to the deity was the offering of life 
to accomplish certain purposes. This was considered 
the culmination of human endeavor. 

255 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

It is important to remember that religion in India 
is threefold, dealing with physics, ontology, and 
ethics. The first object is to give a rational system 
of the universe as a basis of ethics, and hence the 
philosophy of India is inseparably connected with its 
religion. The Hindus claim to get their religion and 
philosophy from the Veda, which they think is with- 
out beginning or end. If it seems absurd to think of 
a book without "beginning or end," you are asked to 
remember that the "Veda" in this instance does not 
mean a book, but rather the accumulation of spir- 
itual laws discovered by the Rishis, or holy beings. 
The law of gravitation for instance had an existence 
before it was discovered, so the Veda had an exist- 
ence before it was discovered and written. The 
Indians regard every child of a Hindu as a believer 
in the Hindu religion. They consider every person 
from a Christian land a Christian. The missionaries 
have great difficulty in getting these people to under- 
stand that some Americans are not Christians. The 
bad lives of many traders and globe-trotters have 
brought great discredit on the Christian religion and 
thereby hindered its progress. 

4. 

The Brahmans explored every field of philosophy, 
and modern thinkers are simply threshing over old 
straw. They start with the assumption that "all 
the universe is Brahm, from him it proceeds and in 
him it is dissolved." In other words, "all nature 
exists in the Divine Spirit, and the Divine Spirit is 
the cause of all human action, and that man's soul 
is the Supreme Soul." 

256 



BRAHMANISM 

Colebrook claims that the philosophy of Pythag- 
oras, who lived in the sixth century B. C, was largely 
borrowed from India and that Chinese philosophers 
came to India to study, more than 400 years B. C. 
The Vedanta philosophy, which is probably the oldest 
philosophical system in India, is contained in the 
Sutras and the Upanishad. The next system in im- 
portance is known as Nyaya philosophy, and is 
founded on the Sutras of Gautama. This system is 
much later than the Vedanta. The Sankhya system 
was founded or originated by Kapila, who is regarded 
as the incarnation of Vishnu. The Vedanta philos- 
ophy teaches that God is the one uncreated and 
eternal principle and all else is Maya or illusion. 
The Sankhya system says, "There are two eternal 
and uncreated substances, soul and matter." The 
Nyaya asserts there are three uncreated and eternal 
substances: atoms, souls, and God. 

They all agree in teaching that the soul is freed 
only by knowledge; that transmigration is the result 
of evil desire; that man's highest purpose is deliver- 
ance from evil; that existence is an evil. The ma- 
jority of them teach that the world and time are delu- 
sions, and that ideas are the only substance. They 
are much the same in their practical speculations 
and inquiries as to how the world came into exist- 
ence and how man is to be delivered from evil. 
They all use the term Atma in the same sense, as 
meaning the unity of all intelligence. They all 
regard the soul as divine and uncreated and as God. 
We say, "God is love." We are of God if we are 
love. They say, "God is soul." They are God if 
they are soul. The Bhagavata says: "Worship 
'' 257 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

in whatever form rendered and to whatever god 
reaches the Suprerne, as rivers rising from whatever 
source all flow into the ocean." 

The Yoga is the ideal of the average Indian 
philosopher. The soul retires within itself and into 
a state of ecstatic reverie and meditates on the 
secret of its own nature. In this state they soon 
recognize that all is a delusion, and then spend the 
rest of life meditating and philosophizing as to how 
to get rid of the impositions of time and sense. 
Much of the reasoning goes in a circle and tends only 
to mystification, and herein Indian philosophy is 
like much that is nearer home. In reading some of 
their statements one is reminded of the philosophers 
and scientists at home, of Darwin and Locke, for in- 
stance, by the following deliverances: "The earth's 
age is one Kalpa or Cycle, which is 4,320,000,000 
years, and it has reached its present stage and form 
by an evolutionary process." "Man is evidently of 
Simian origin and the product of a long evolutionary 
process." Again, "Not a single act here below is 
ever done by a man free from self-love; whatever he 
performs is from a desire for a reward. He who 
should persist in discharging these duties without 
any view to their fruit would attain hereafter the 
state of the immortals, and even in this life would 
enjoy all the virtuous gratification that his fancy 
could suggest." 

5. 

Since early Vedism, certain customs have crept 
into Brahmanism and developed rapidly that have 
proved to be highly detrimental. Some of these cus- 

258 



BRAHMANISM 

toms have gradually disappeared from one cause and 
another, while others have gripped and molded the 
whole religious life. 

The Suttee or widow immolation to the fire-god 
was supposed to expiate sins from three generations. 
For the widow to be burned on the funeral pyre of 
her husband showed great devotion, had high merit, 
and came to be popular. The custom came to be so 
objectionable and degrading that it was suppressed 
by the British Government in 1828, since which time 
it has gradually disappeared, till it is not found at all 
now save in very isolated places. 

Polygamy is mentioned in the Veda, but not com- 
mended; but in later times the practice is com- 
mended and justified by law. The Laws of Manu 
mentions various causes for which a wife may be 
divorced and another taken — a barren wife, one who 
brings forth only daughters, she who speaks unkindly 
to her husband, etc. Wives may be multiplied al- 
most indefinitely. Monogamy was the rule and 
polygamy only the exception. "A degrading kind of 
polygamy has grown up among the Brahmans in 
more recent times called Kulinism. Araja attempted 
to reform the Brahmanical order by dividing it into 
several classes. The first class was called Kulin, 
meaning of high family. This was intended to be 
an order of special merit, representing exalted piety 
and learning. The Kulin Brahman came to be 
esteemed only for high family rank. To attain rank 
many families contracted marriage with a single 
Kulin. Often large sums are given and the polyga- 
mous Brahman becomes the husband of many wives, 
in some instances hundreds. The Kulin does not 

259 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

take them to his home, but visits them in their homes 
or the homes of their parents. He is received into 
these homes with great honor, and often given valu- 
able presents or paid large sums." 

The Caste System has been a great curse to India. 
As to how, when, and where this system originated 
is an open question. A similar system existed in the 
early Egyptian and Persian religion. There are 
several references to caste in the Veda. Some claim 
these are interpolations to sanction a custom which 
the priests were trying to fasten on the people. 
Monier Williams says: ''Caste rules the daily life 
of the Hindu, and Hinduism and caste are, for prac- 
tical purposes, convertible terms." Strictness in 
the maintenance of caste is the real test of Hinduism 
exacted by Brahmans. 

Manu says: "Distinct classes of men were created 
just as varieties of animals were made." The four 
main castes have many subdivisions. There are 
many kinds of Brahmans who will not intermarry or 
eat together. The business followed often decides 
the caste. The violation of the rules of caste makes 
the offender an outcast, something more terrible 
than death. The rules of caste consign the lower 
orders to ignorance and manual labor. These are 
not allowed to hear the Veda read or receive any re- 
ligious instruction. The system defeats progress, 
fosters pride, kills human sympathy, and is a great 
obstacle to the progress of the gospel. 

No person not born a Brahman can become one, 
but any person can be admitted to the lower ranks 
of Hinduism who will acknowledge the supremacy of 
the Brahman and obey the rules of caste. So long 

260 



BRAHMANISM 

as one holds to his caste he is at Hberty to hold any 
opinion he likes, even accepting the doctrine of 
Christianity. The break comes because Christianity 
cannot accept the caste system. Some argue that 
this system is of divine origin; others, that it has been 
imposed upon the people by the priests, who desire 
autocratic power; others, that it has come as the 
natural development of society. The latter claim 
that the Aryans were a noble race and did not want 
their people to marry the inferior people of India 
who were conquered by them, and that they laid down 
certain laws limiting intercourse and marriage, and 
that the caste system developed naturally from these 
laws. 

The Brahman believes himself to be a superman. 
Without him there can be no worship, for he alone 
has intelligence enough to perform worship correctly, 
and worship not properly offered has no efficacy. 
Religion is therefore in the hands of the caste whose 
sacredness is hereditary. Without the Brahman 
there can be no intercourse between the gods and 
men. One writer has described the Brahman as fol- 
lows: "Light of complexion, his forehead ample, his 
countenance of striking significance, his lips thin and 
mouth expressive, his eyes quick and sharp, his 
fingers long, his carriage noble and almost sublime. 
The true Brahman uncontaminated by European in- 
fluence and manners, with his intense self-conscious- 
ness, with the proud conviction of superiority de- 
picted in every muscle of his face and manifest in 
every movement of his body, is a wonderful specimen 
of humanity walking on God's earth." The author 
testifies that this description is not overdrawn. 

261 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

One tradition says that in the early dawn of the 
far-distant past the sacred cobra reared his head and 
darted out his tongue, on which the great Brahm 
took his stand to order the affairs of this world. 
When he opened his mouth to speak, the Brahm-man 
stepped forth. Brahm said to him, "I will make my 
will known to man through you, and all communica- 
tion between me and the people of earth must be 
through you." Brahm then raised his hands and 
from his arms sprang the soldier caste known as 
Kshatriya. Brahm commanded them to obey im- 
plicitly the Brahmans and to take orders from no 
others. Brahm then called for the Vaisya caste to 
come forth and they came out of his loins. He com- 
manded them to be merchants, traders, and profes- 
sional men, and to obey and uphold the soldier caste. 
Brahm then called for toilers to subdue the earth 
and the Sudras sprang from his feet. The Brahman 
stands at the head and has sacred pre-eminence 
according to this fable. They cast the horoscope at 
birth, preside at betrothals, and mutter incantations 
in the dying hour. Cursed is the man who is cursed 
by a Brahman. It is not strange that the religion of 
the Hindu people is known as Brahmanism. 

These four castes have been divided and sub- 
divided till to-day there are thousands of castes in 
India. The population of India is 325,000,000, 
which if divided between these four castes and out- 
casts would be about as follows: 

Brahmans 10,000,000. 

Soldier Caste 15,000,000. 

Merchant Caste 60,000,000. 

Sudra Caste 200,000,000. 

Outcasts 40,000,000. 

262 



BRAHMANISM 

5. 

The Brahmo Somaj, a society for the worship of 
God, arose from an attempt to harmonize ancient 
Hinduism with Christianity and modern science. 
The leader in this movement was Ram-Mohun-Roy, 
a notable Hindu reformer. He attempted to per- 
suade his countrymen to forsake idolatry and be- 
come monotheists, and proved from their ancient 
records that their own uncorrupted religion was a 
pure monotheism. 

Another leader was Chunder Sen, who taught that 
all great religions are one. He spoke of Jesus with 
profound respect. He said: "Have as your creed 
one God, one Scripture, and one family of prophets. 
Love one true God and worship Him only. Make 
your lives holy by worship. Be not satisfied with a 
fraction of virtue. Be happy in the happiness of 
others, and sorrow in other's sorrow. Regard all 
mankind as one family. Do not regard as aliens 
men of other castes or religions. Be poor and pa- 
tient, and live as an ascetic and beg your food." 
This movement has attempted, and with some suc- 
cess, to destroy the caste system by encouraging 
intermarriage between the castes. The same move- 
ment did much to encourage the re-marriage of 
widows and to prevent the burning of widows on 
their husband's funeral pyre. This society placed 
great emphasis on prayer, regeneration, and holiness 
of life. Many of their spiritual practices seem absurd 
to Occidentals, but are doubtless explained by their 
early education and habits and a tendency to hold 
on to customs that had theoretically been discarded. 
It was a kind of composite religion in which the con- 

263 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

stituent elements did not harmonize. The leaders 
insisted on a personal experience and were devout. 
They had a saying: "To offer acceptable worship 
one must bring himself to feel he is shaking hands 
with God." Dissension arose in the society from time 
to time as a result of the leaders tolerating the signs 
of caste by permitting members to wear the Brahman 
cord. The cord was worn secretly under the clothing, 
but showed clearly that the member was still a Brah- 
man and held to the Brahman caste. 

Another cause of discord was that some of the 
leaders allowed their own daughters to be married 
before they attained to fourteen years of age, which 
was the age prescribed by the Somaj. As a result of 
these discussions there are three Brahmo-Somajs in 
India, all holding practically the same views or creed, 
which are as follows: 

1. I believe that God is one only, and that He 
is a Spirit. 

2. I believe God is personal, with infinite at- 
tributes of wisdom, love, holiness, power, glory, and 
peace. 

3. I believe God is present with us and in us, 
as well as in all the laws of nature. 

4. I believe in the general and special providence 
of God. 

5. I believe in the dual nature of man — body 
and spirit. 

6. I believe in the immortality of the soul. 

7. I believe that faith in God and the future 
state is necessary to religion. 

8. I believe man is personally responsible for his 
own deeds. 

9. I believe in the punishment of sin here and 
hereafter. 

264 



BRAHMANISM 

10. I believe that righteousness brings reward 
here and hereafter. 

11. I believe in the union of souls in a spiritual 
heaven. 

12. I believe in the divine authority of conscience. 

13. I believe that religious instincts are im- 
bedded in the soul. 

14. I believe in faith and prayer as a means of 
perceiving spiritual realities. 

15. I believe Jesus Christ to be the chief of all 
prophets and teachers. 

They became closely allied to the Unitarians of New- 
England, who gave their leaders much encourage- 
ment and hoped that this new church would be the 
salvation of India. 

The Arya Somaj was entirely diflferent. It was 
founded by Dayanand Saraswati in 1825. This 
young Brahman had lost faith in idolatry, became a 
recluse, and studied with the pundits. He says: 
''From one of my teachers I learned clearly that I 
am God, the soul and God being one." He visited 
the sacred places teaching this new doctrine. He 
had an impressive personality, fine appearance, and 
a keen intellect, and won many followers. He be- 
lieved in the inspiration of the Veda, and in pan- 
theism. He denied the truth of the Bible, and 
assailed the character of Jesus. He held that all 
the activities of life were the worship of God. He 
denied caste, believed in transmigration, opposed 
early marriages, and favored compulsory education. 
He used the term Arya Somaj (Aryan Society), 
claiming that Hindu was a term of reproach for the 
noble race. He died in 1883. His last written words 
were: *'The purpose of my life is the extirpation of 

265 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

evil; the intrcnduction of truth in thought, word, and 
deed; the preservation of unity in religion; the ex- 
pulsion of mutual enmity; the exertion of friendly 
intercourse; and the advancement of public happi- 
ness by reciprocal subservience of the human family. 
May the grace of Almighty God and the consent and 
co-operation of the learned spread these doctrines 
over the world so that peace, prosperity, and happi- 
ness may reign in the world. Amen." 

In 1900 the members of this Somaj numbered 
92,419, being twenty times the number that were in 
the Brahmo-Somaj. 

The influences at work to weaken Hinduism have 
not been very successful. More fine temples are be- 
ing built than ever before, but the number of pil- 
grimages to the sacred places is diminishing, caste is 
being greatly modified, and the age for marriage of 
daughters is advancing. The general movement in 
India is upward, and while progress is slow, it is 
steady. 



266 



CHAPTER XX 

Zoroaster and Parseeism 

ZOROASTER, or as he is sometimes called, 
Zarathustra, was a priest of Spitam and was 
influential at the court of King Vistaspa, 
who, with his wife, was among the early followers of 
the great reformer. The Indo-Germanic people who 
were his ancestors lived in East Iran or Bactria, 
between the Hindu-Kush Mountains and the Caspian 
Sea. 

Any attempt to fix the age in which he lived is 
mere guesswork. Aristotle places the date of his 
birth as 6000 B. C; Berosus, 2234 B. C; Siegel, 
2000 B. C; Dollinger, 1300 B. C. It is probably 
safe to say he lived some twelve or fifteen hundred 
years B. C. 

He was a philosopher, poet, and prophet. He 
suffered persecution on account of the reform he 
promulgated. He called his religion Mazda worship, 
Mazda being the Parsee name for God. He taught 
that there was but one true God and spent his life 
trying to exterminate idolatry. Every Zoroastrian 
makes this confession of faith: "I confess myself a 
worshiper of Mazda, a follower of Zoroaster, an 
opponent of false gods, and subject to the laws of 
the Lord." Zoroaster preached pure monotheism 
and lofty morality. 

The Persians were a very poor people who lived 
in a cold, dreary country that was not adapted to 

267 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

agriculture. The people could not produce sufficient 
grain to meet their own needs, and what they did 
raise was often taken from them by marauders, who 
from the surrounding mountains would watch the 
ripening grain and swoop down on the helpless 
people in the valley and carry away their harvests 
and often drive their herds to the hills. The people 
who were fortunate enough to harvest their grain 
before the annual raid would often hide it in the 
caves. The traveler of to-day sees these caves, 
some of which have been in use for thousands of 
years. 

The cry of these poor and helpless people was the 
call that reached the ears of Zoroaster and stirred his 
very soul. He called the people to the worship of 
the true God and warned them to turn from false 
gods if they would receive help from on high. The 
incident is like the Bible account of Elijah calling 
upon the people to turn from the worship of Baal to 
the true God. He tells the people that Ahura Mazda 
is the all-wise Lord, who is Creator, Guardian, and 
Preserver of all who trust Him. 

Here is monotheism pure and simple, though 
good and evil spirits are recognized. The Persian 
devil is the spirit of darkness and death, just as Ahura 
Mazda is the Spirit of light and life. The devil is 
said to be the personification of everything irra- 
tional and all evils in nature and the wickedness of 
humanity. The devil is recognized as having power 
to destroy but not to create. There is no speculation 
as to the origin of the devil or evil, but dualism is 
recognized everywhere. There is a constant struggle 
between good and evil spirits. Zoroaster was an 

268 



ZOROASTER AND PARSEEISM 

optimist of the optimists, for he never expressed a 
doubt as to the final triumph of good and the de- 
struction of evil. His followers of to-day, though 
they have dwindled to a handful, are still a joyful, 
happy, and optimistic people. 

Darius was a worshiper of Ahura Mazda. Near 
Persepolis is the Behistun rock with many hiero- 
glyphics and wedge-shaped letters that have sur- 
vived the storms and revolutions of twenty-four 
centuries. One of the many inscriptions reads: ''I, 
Darius, ruler of the dependent provinces, son of 
Hystaspis, by the grace of Ormuzd am king. It is 
he that has granted me my empire. By the grace 
of Ormuzd, my people have obeyed my laws." 
Nearby is a figure representing Darius standing 
before a fire, watching a struggle between a king 
and a griffin. This scene is to represent the religion 
of Persia — fire worship, conflict, and the fravashis. 

In every Persian temple to this day the fire is 
burning and the devotees are wont to believe that 
it is the same fire that was kindled by Adam, and 
that the torch which started it was lighted from a 
preceding one that was in succession from the first 
one. The fire is sacred, and as the hired prayer in 
front of it prays aloud from morning until night, 
his mouth is carefully covered lest his spittal or 
breath pollute the fire. 

In the Persian religion all things are divided into 
twos. Ormuzd and Ahriman stand with drawn 
swords, the former the friend and defender of the 
good, while the latter fights for evil. There are two 
marshaled hosts, two modes of living, and two 
places of final destiny. 

269 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

There is no fate; every man must choose for him- 
self as to which side he will take in this conflict. 
Great emphasis is placed on the folly of doing evil. 
It is referred to as "turning up sand with a golden 
plow to sow weeds"; "mowing weeds with a scythe of 
glass"; "putting a jeweled glass on a fire to cook a 
dish of pebbles." "So live that, sinking in the last 
long sleep; calm, thou mayst smile while all around 
thee weep." 

The Persians of the Zoroastrian period were 
accustomed to hardship and conflict. The songs of 
their poets breathed, and the words of the orators 
burned. Their very life was a production of heroism. 

Wouldst thou the honey taste while afraid of the sting of the 
bee? 
Wouldst the victor's crown wear without knowing the terrible 
fight? 

Could the diver get pearls that repose in the depths of the sea, 
If he stood on the shore, from the crocodile shrinking in fright? 

With unfaltering toil thou must seek what the Fates have de- 
creed 

May be won, and courageously pluck for thyself the glorious 
meed. 

The Persian religion teaches that every man has 
a double. The Egyptians call this double the Ka; 
the Romans, the Genius; but the Persians call it 
Fravashis. The Fravashis is the highest part, the 
divine and immortal part of man. In the New 
Testament the Pneuma is always associated with 
the spiritual man, so in Parsee theology the Fravashis 
belongs to the righteous only. 

The moral code of Zoroastrianism revolves 
around four fundamental principles — piety, purity, 

270 



ZOROASTER AND PARSEEISM 

veracity, and industry. Piety consists in worshiping 
Ahura Mazda, or Ormuzd, by hymns and prayers. 
This worship is led by the priest, who faces the fire 
and, rising from his seat, says aloud: "I invite you 
all to this offering, and I prepare it for Ahura Mazda." 
He then offers to the fire food consisting of milk and 
butter, and joins his congregation in drinking the 
juice of the soma plant. The people were required 
to refrain from impure acts, words, and thoughts. 
Veracity, or truthfulness, was highly prized by the 
Persians. They regarded lying as the worst of all 
vices. Other evils were detested because of the lies 
that were employed to conceal them. Industry was 
regarded as a part of religion. They had a maxim, 
"He who tills the ground is as good a servant of re- 
ligion as he who presents a thousand holy offerings 
or ten thousand prayers." 

The joys of heaven are largely in the conscious- 
ness of having lived right. Virtue is its own reward. 

The firmament is God's love letter writ for man; 

The sun is the seal stamped on its envelope of air; 
The confidential night tears off the blazing seal, 

And lays the solemn star-script, God's handwriting, bare. 

The Persians lived much in the open and studied 
the stars. It was customary for them to put their 
blankets on the ground around a fire and lie down 
and gaze at the moon and stars and tell stories to 
entertain one another. The Oriental imagination 
reveled in such surroundings. It was amid such sur- 
roundings "The Arabian Nights" was born. 

The future life has always been a favorite theme 
for speculation, so the Persian imagination ran wild 

271 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

in picturing the joys of heaven and the sorrows of 
hell. 

The Mithra cult was made up of Iranian beliefs, 
Babylonian myths, Syrian observances, and Hellen- 
istic speculations. Mithra was the mediator between 
heaven and earth. Persian literature had many 
legends of his birth and some amusing cosmological 
myths. One story relates how a bull was sacrificed 
and out of his body grew all plants, trees, and herbs 
that grow from the earth. Mithra is the protector 
of all that is good and accompanies the souls of the 
righteous to heaven. At the end of the world he 
will come again and resurrect all men and hold the 
general judgment, at which time each one will be 
held accountable for all his influence, both direct 
and indirect. This cult holds a sacramental meal 
much like what the Christians call the Lord's Supper. 
During the winter solstice a celebration and sacra- 
ment was held in each congregation. The cult was 
a real brotherhood in the best sense of that word. 
It is not strange that this cult was a rival of Chris- 
tianity for the first three centuries of the Christian 
era. 

As a people the Parsees rank high in every re- 
spect. They have suff^ered by Mohammedan perse- 
cution until they number less than two hundred 
thousand. About one-half of them live in Persia, 
mostly in the city of Yezd in the province of Kerman. 
The other half live in India, mostly in and around 
Bombay. Many centuries ago they fled to India as 
a result of Mohammedan persecution. They settled 
first on an island near the coast of Gujerat, but find- 
ing the island too small, they petitioned the Hindu 

272 



ZOROASTER AND PARSEEISM 

prince for the privilege of settling on the mainland. 
The rajah gave them a large tract of land and by 
diligence and industry they soon attained great 
prosperity. As they gained wealth and social posi- 
tion, many of their high moral and religious ideas 
suffered eclipse and they leaned to infidelity. They 
have retained in name and form many of their 
original customs, while they have abandoned others 
that came into conflict with modern civilization; for 
instance, brothers and sisters do not marry each other 
as formerly. The custom of exposing dead bodies 
on the Towers of Silence to be devoured by birds of 
prey is still observed, and doubtless always will be, 
for it is a fundamental belief with them that the 
earth, water, and fire are sacred and would be pol- 
luted by becoming the receptacle of a dead body. 

The Zend-Avesta is the name of the Parsee 
Scripture or Sacred Book. It is divided into three 
parts, as follows; 

1. The Yasna, or psalms. 

2. The Vispered, or liturgy. 

3. The Vendidad, or law. 

The Avesta as we have it is only a part of a much 
larger collection of sacred writings. This collection 
consists of twenty-one books, if we can trust Parsi 
tradition, which were destroyed by Alexander when 
he invaded the East. The oldest part of the Avesta 
is known as the Gathas, written in verse, in which 
are many beautiful sentiments, such as: 

"Good is the thought, good the speech, good the 
work of the pure." 

'' 273 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

"I have intrusted my soul to heaven, and will 
teach only what is pure." 

"Honor the good Spirit, the good kingdom, the 
good law." 

"Evil doctrine should not again destroy the 
world." 

"The place where a holy man walks is acceptable 
to Ahura-Mazda." 

"The holy man should have his own home, wife, 
children, and flocks." 

"To cultivate fields and trees, and raise fruit is 
righteousness." 

"The earth speaks to him who cultivates it." 

"All good I accept as from thy hand, O God, and 
think and speak and do thy will." 

"Praise to the Lord, who rewards those who do 
good deeds." 

"Let us be of those who advance this world and 
improve it." 

"The precepts of Mazda are a torment to the bad, 
but a joy to the righteous." 

These wonderful people have always interested 
historians. Herodotus wrote of them in 450 B. C., 
calling them Magi. Plutarch wrote an interesting 
sketch of Zoroaster. Plato wrote of Parseeism and 
spoke of it as being the same as Magism of East Iran. 



274 



CHAPTER XXI 

Buddhism 

THE life of Buddha is as truly the key to Bud- 
dhism as is the life of Christ to Christianity. 
To get the real facts of the life of Buddha is 
the student's biggest problern. He must sift, select, 
and cull a mass of literature, tradition, fiction, and 
fancy, the like of which has never been gathered 
around the life of any other individual. 

The name "Buddha" transports us across a 
chasm of twenty-five centuries and drops us in a land 
of mystery. Authentic history lays no claim to 
events transpiring then and there. Imagination has 
filled the air with bright, harnessed angels, shaken 
the earth with convulsions, and closed the mouth of 
hell, all because of the birth of a baby. 

This marvelous child was born somewhere be- 
tween 620 and 650 B. C, of a clan known as Sakyas, 
belonging to a family known as Gautamas. This 
family lived about 135 miles north of Benares, in 
the bewitching land of India. They claimed to trace 
their royal ancestry to the first monarch who ever 
ruled in this world. The birth of a baby is an im- 
portant event in even a humble household in any 
land, but when it comes to the birth of the royal 
baby in the one royal family that traces its descent 
back to the first ruler of the universe, it is not strange 
that the powers of nature should be called upon to 
take notice. This wonderful child has been invested 

275 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

with the honors of heraldry as well as of divinity. 
To fit him to his surroundings the Brahjnans inter- 
preted the Vedas showing that he was to come to 
the earth in a miraculous way. His birth is said to 
have been attended by thirty-two world wonders; 
ten thousand systems were instantly illuminated; 
the blind received their sight, the deaf heard, the 
dumb sang, the lame danced, animals talked, and 
all kinds of diseases were cured as by magic. The 
wind was laden with perfume, for flowers grew from 
the ocean and fell from heaven. This baby's future 
wife was born at the same hour that gave him birth. 
The horse he was to ride and the attendant that was 
to be his guide, also the one who was to be his first 
convert, all came to earth on the same day. When 
the child was seven days old he looked into his 
mother's face with a smile that was seraphic, and 
when her heart was expanding with pride and joy 
till it seemed ready to burst, he kissed her spirit 
away. He closed his eyes and sat for hours in deep 
meditation, as if trying to solve the mystery of what 
had happened, and then exclaimed "Dm!" This 
event filled the learned Brahmans with delight. 
What was a mystery to all others seemed plain enough 
to them. They began to make mysterious references 
as to the future of the child which filled the father with 
pride, and clan and family with wonder. Legend 
tells of his infant feats of valor and superhuman 
strength, and of a wisdom that fathomed all mys- 
teries. 

India is dreamland, wonderland, the land of 
moonlight, where imagination revels in stories like 
the "Arabian Nights," as people lie in circles around 

276 



BUDDHISM 

the village common at the close of the day. This is 
the surrounding in which legends are born, when the 
imagination runs riot, and where Oriental philosophy 
and religion grow. India is pre-eminently a land of 
religion. There is in this surrounding the best pos- 
sible setting for the development of a great religious 
leader. 

When this child is sixteen years of age he is given 
a wife. On the wedding day she is presented with 
40,000 attendants, which was considered to be in 
keeping with her family and rank. These attendants 
were princesses, dancing women, maids, and concu- 
bines. The palace at Kapilavastu had all that 
wealth and honor could give it. The father of this 
young prince was Suddhodana Gautama, the head 
of the Gautama family as well as the Maharaja, or 
great king of the tribe. He had at his command 
unlimited wealth and great political and military 
power. His one ambition was that his son, the young 
prince, should know nothing of the evils and sorrows 
of life. Life in the palace was decidedly artificial; 
the prince and princess were fanned to sleep by the 
punka man, they were awakened gently by the 
maid for chotahazara, they were bathed and per- 
fumed by the attendants in time for breakfast. The 
**garry-man" took them for drives along avenues from 
which every objectionable object had been removed 
to a distance of at least eight miles. The indulgent 
father knew that the world was cursed by sin, dis- 
ease, misfortune, and folly, but he did not wish the 
eyes of his sacred children to look upon these things. 

On one occasion the coachman ventured on to a 
forbidden avenue, by the side of which the prince 

277 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

saw for the first time an aged man with gray hair, 
falling teeth, trembling hand, and tottering steps. 
He was not only surprised, but amazed and shocked. 
He inquired of the coachman what it meant, and was 
told that such was the common lot of man. He kept 
the knowledge of what he had seen hidden in his 
heart, and pondered on it daily. He was beginning 
to learn that the great world outside was different 
from the world as it appeared inside the palace. 
Four months passed by, and the wily coachman drove 
him along an avenue where he saw a leper who was 
suffering from the awful disease in its worst form. 
When the coachman explained to him that these 
sights were common all over India, he became nause- 
ated, heartsick, and sad. When he recovered from 
his wonderment he found that the shock had awak- 
ened in him a curiosity and a morbid desire to see 
more. He connived with the coachman to take him 
once more into the forbidden land. On the next 
drive he looked for the first time on a dead body. 
As he returned to the palace, he was asking himself 
constantly: "What is death? What is the object of 
life? What is the cause of sorrow? Is there an 
escape?" 

He was told by the learned Brahmans that many 
other people were wrestling with the same problems. 
He learned from them something about the occult 
philosophy of India; listened with amazement to the 
stories told of the Yogas ; learned to admire the saints 
or holy men who lined the highways and congregated 
at the malees. Through all of this throbbed one 
definite thought, and ran one fixed purpose, the 
gaining of peace by the renouncing of the world. 

278 



BUDDHISM 

The mass of people showed profound reverence for 
those who made the great renunciation. The prince 
had seen things and learned lessons that made him 
a different man, and rendered it forever impossible 
that he should be the same again. 

As he meditated on these things, sleep fled, and 
with it all desire for food; thus he began the only 
kind of a fast that has a real significance. When a 
great purpose so grips life that the soul trembles, a 
fast begins without a previous proclamation. This 
condition worried the princess, who was unable to 
solve the secret thoughts that troubled her husband's 
mind. She contented herself with the thought that 
in a short time she would present him an heir 
that would bring him such great joy that he would 
forget all else. 

One night he tossed upon his silken couch be- 
cause thoughts throbbed in his brain that agitated his 
soul. He was realizing that the luxuries which were 
his were not his, but perished with the using, and 
failed to bring permanent peace. He began to feel 
that the current philosophy was correct, and that 
they would do most for him when he discarded them. 
He saw that the great Yogas became great in the 
renunciation, and with the greatness came peace and 
large opportunity for usefulness. He saw that the 
luxuries which surrounded him were his curse, be- 
cause they held him back from the very things for 
which his soul yearned — peace, fame, and usefulness — 
and that the wise course for him was to flee from 
these luxuries and denounce them by his life, rather 
than by his words. This inward battle and soul 
struggle reached a climax when word was brought to 

279 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

him that the heir had arrived at the palace. His 
affection for wife and baby grew stronger day by 
day. The ties of love that had bound him and his 
wife together were strengthened by the coming of 
the baby, and were rapidly cementing. The prince 
realized that he was being bound by new and stronger 
cords each day, and that it was a matter of only a 
short time when to extricate himself would be an 
impossibility. All the time there were echoing in 
his soul the thoughts represented by peace, ought, 
opportunity, and fame. That soul must be dead 
that does not yearn for "peace," that does not 
tremble in the presence of "ought," that does not 
leap at the thought of "opportunity," and thrill with 
the anticipation of "fame." The mightiest battles 
that have ever been fought were not on the plains 
of Marathon, or at the fastnesses of Thermopylae, 
or at Gettysburg, or the Marne, but in the human 
breast at hours like that faced by the young Indian 
prince. Many such battles are staged, but com- 
paratively few are won. 

The life of luxury that the young prince had lived 
had in it nothing to inure him for such a conflict. 
Something seemed to say to him, "Your destiny is 
fixed, for the coming of the child has made your 
flight forever impossible." The soul struggle be- 
came more intense, the crisal hour drew near, the 
decisive moment arrived. It was the hour of night; 
mother and babe were wrapped in sleep, and looked 
like nymphs from fairyland as they lay partially con- 
cealed by silk hangings that were shot through by 
the silver rays of the departing moon. The prince 
glided gently into the room to face the mighty ordeal, 

280 



BUDDHISM 

not sure whether he was to win or be won. He tried 
to be silent, but his knees trembled, his heart throbbed, 
and his head was dizzy. He was filled with the pro- 
found conviction that his only salvation lay in im- 
mediate flight, and, as a madman, he sped away! 

No historian could follow his precipitate flight, 
for legend says he and his attendant dashed away into 
the great world beyond. When the night began to 
fade into day, and the rays of the sun were tinting 
the sky, they approached a river 1,200 feet wide, 
over which the flying steeds passed with a bound. 
Here they were 480 miles from the palace. The 
crossing of the river marked his entrance into a new 
world — a, world into which nothing should accompany 
him save his attendant. His noble horse died of a 
broken heart because of the separation. 

The prince cut off his hair with his sword, and 
threw it sixteen miles into the air, where it was 
caught by angels and deposited in a pagoda, where 
it is worshiped to this day. His attendant brought 
him articles suitable for a recluse, and the two pro- 
ceeded 480 miles to a city, which they entered as 
beggars, and went from house to house with their 
bowls, asking for alms. They then went into the 
forest for meditation. They spent the next six years 
begging rice and in meditation. In the mountain 
fastnesses the prince had many temptations and con- 
flicts with demons. One of them rode an elephant 
that was 1,000 miles high, and had 500 heads, a 
flaming tongue, and 1,000 eyes, also 1,000 arms, and 
hands wielding 1,000 weapons, no two of which were 
alike. He sat down under a Bo-tree to meditate and 
to recount his trials. He saw the failure of wealth, 

281 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

honor, philosophy, penance, etc. Finally, he realized 
that he was fanned by strange breezes, and thrilled 
by an entirely new experience, which was nothing 
less than a willingness to surrender these things on 
which he had depended for peace, and with this sur- 
render he had found the thing for which he was 
struggling, and exclaimed, "I am Buddha!" (From 
"Bud," meaning enlightened.) He began to chant: 

To Nirvana my mind and feelings aspire; 
I have reached the extinction of evil desire. 

This remarkable character is henceforth known as 
"Buddha," his experience as the great "Renuncia- 
tion," and the Bo-tree as the "Sacred Place." 

Buddha soon went to Benares, to see some fol- 
lowers who had forsaken him because he did not 
fast, as they thought a holy man should do. He had 
not conversed with them long before they were con- 
vinced that he had something they did not have, and 
for which they had searched and fasted in vain. The 
old friendship was renewed, and they again became 
his followers. 

Buddhism was generated, incubated, born, and 
developed in an atmosphere that was saturated with 
superstition, myth, philosophy, and religion. From 
Buddhism, and indirectly from the surroundings that 
produced Buddhism, have sprung many cults with 
which we are becoming familiar in the Occident, such 
as Spiritualism, Theosophy, Christian Science, etc. 
The Buddhism of to-day, as we find it in Burma, 
China, Japan, and Ceylon, is very unlike the Bud- 
dhism that appeared in India 2,000 years ago, just 
as much that passes for Christianity to-day is wholly 

282 



BUDDHISM 

unlike the religion that Christ brought to the world. 
We would not want the Christianity of Christ judged 
by many of the sects, denominations, and cults of 
this day that assume His name, and, to be fair, we 
should judge Buddhism in the same way. 

The magnitude of Buddhism challenges our at- 
tention, for about one-seventh of the population of 
the earth is Buddhist; their literature is voluminous, 
and their missionary activities reach to the ends of 
the earth. These facts suggest questions that ought 
to be studied carefully, and sympathetically as well, 
if we would get at the great underlying truths. 

When Buddha became enlightened, he immedi- 
ately recognized four fundamental truths: (1) All 
life is suffering and seeking something that can never 
be attained ; (2) The cause of suffering is from within 
— a thirsting for pleasure and power; (3) Salvation is 
found only in the extinction of desire. When that is 
attained, the person has reached Nirvana. (4) The 
path to Nirvana is by right belief, right feeling, right 
speech, right action, right means of livelihood, right 
endeavor, right memory, and right meditation. He 
taught that there was a supreme power, but no Su- 
preme Being. The only god he recognized was what 
man can become. He was an atheistic pantheist. 
"The only real and substantial thing in the universe 
is Intellect, the constituent parts of which are the 
minds of men." 

Karma is a distinguishing feature of Buddhism. 
Karma is the law of consequences, and is like the 
shadow that follows the body. "As a man soweth, 
so also shall he reap." Karma knows no pardon, 
but is an automatic law, administering itself, and 

283 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

following us after death, through various transmi- 
grations. All life is overshadowed by the fear of 
what may happen in the dark labyrinth of transmi- 
gration. This religion emphasizes moral goodness 
and inward purification. Its five great command- 
ments are — not to kill, not to steal, not to commit 
adultery, not to lie, not to use intoxicants. It for- 
bids pride, anger, gossip, greed, and all kinds of 
vice, and enjoins reverence for parents, kindness to 
the poor, meekness, returning good for evil, and 
charity to all. The motto of Buddha was, ''AH that 
is perishes, with zeal work for your salvation." He 
died with these words upon his lips. Many of his 
proverbs are worth preserving: 

"Man gathers flowers of pleasure, but death 
hurries him away." 

"The treasure that no thief can steal is love." 

"It is the fool who chases vanity." 

"The real victor is the one who conquers himself." 

"By sharing what we have, we enter into com- 
munion with the gods." 

"We can live happily by not calling anything 
our own." 

"To make the outside clean does not change low 
desires." 

The rules and regulations are elaborate. The duties 
of life are classified as follows: 

1. Relation of parents and children. 

2. Pupil and teacher. 

3. Husband and wife. 

4. Friend and friend. 

5. Master and servant. 

6. Priest and layman. 

284 



BUDDHISM 

The relations prescribed under these heads are much 
the same as the best democratic ideas of this age. 

Another distinguishing feature of Buddhism is 
Nirvana. This term, or state, has been variously- 
defined, as a happy state, the eternal place, the rest- 
ing place, annihilation, etc. There seems to be no 
good reason for such diversity of opinion. Buddha 
meant, by Nirvana, the place where all desire ceases, 
and there is nothing left to disturb the tranquillity of 
the mind. At that moment the mind becomes a real 
part of the Great Mind, and acts only as acted on 
by the Universal Mind. For those who have reached 
Nirvana there is no longer any danger of transmi- 
gration. They teach that the best thing you can wish 
a m-an is that he may not again transmigrate. 

The Sacred Books of Buddhism are: 

1. Pitaka (or "Basket") contains the discourses 
of Buddha. 

2. The second Basket, or Dharma, sets forth the 
doctrines or ethics of the people. 

3. The third Basket, or Vinaya, contains rules 
for the priests, psalter for the services, etc. 

These books are supposed to have been written from 
memory by the early disciples of Buddhism. They 
make three hundred volumes folio, and contain 
29,368,000 letters. The market price of the Kanjur 
edition, printed in China, is 7,000 oxen. 

Self-culture, or the development of the intel- 
lectual life, is the central thought in Buddhism. 
Buddha attained to the most perfect self -culture of 
any mortal, according to Buddhistic estimates. He 
said, "Not even a god can change into defeat the 

285 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

victory of a man who has vanquished himself." 
The system inveighs against idolatry, while develop- 
ing into a gigantic system of idolatry. Buddha is 
god, and his statues or images are worshiped all 
over the world. The Buddhist shrines, temples, and 
places of worship in Japan alone number more than 
200,000. They are equally numerous in other Bud- 
dhist countries. 

Buddhism lacks consistency, for at times it ap- 
pears as atheism, then as pantheism, and again as 
theism. Buddhism is generally regarded as a system 
of religion, but according to our definition (the 
worship of a higher power from a sense of need) it 
cannot be classed as a religion. It is rather a philo- 
sophical system of penance, for moral, ethical, and 
selfish ends. The moral and ethical standards are 
very unlike those recognized in the Occident. 

The Buddhists recognize no being who answers 
prayer, and yet prayer mills, or praying machines, 
that run by hand, water, and wind, are common. 
These prayers have no connection with the moral 
or ethical life, but are supposed to have great merit. 
The writer has seen prayers in the form of small 
paper wads, carried in baskets and poured on fires. 
The balls contained combustibles that made a deafen- 
ing noise, which was supposed to have in it great 
merit. 

**As a result of Buddhism, we see woman degraded 
and cursed ; held as an inferior being ; her womanhood 
regarded as the penalty of sins committed in a pre- 
existent state, her only hope the possibility of being 
one day delivered from the curse by being born a 
man." 

2^ 



BUDDHISM 

The average devotees of Buddhism have no more 
conception of virtue than has the animal. "Their 
superstition allows thousands to lie unburied, wait- 
ing for a lucky day. Listen to the midnight din of 
the superstitious mass who are singing songs and 
discharging fireworks to keep away the evil spirits. 
Watch the incantations over the sick, the honor paid 
to dead beggars, while men and women die of star- 
vation," and never again speak of Buddhism as the 
Protestantism of the Orient. 

The claim that Christianity has borrowed from 
Buddhism is unfounded. The heathen tribute to 
Christianity is their attempt to link it up with their 
systems. This attempt has been constant from the 
time of Celsus to the present, and the same attempt 
is now seen in the claims of Christian Science, Spir- 
itualism, and Theosophy. 

''Christianity has always been restrictive and 
opposed to admixture with other systems." Kuenen 
has but little bias in favor of Christianity, and yet, 
after a careful examination, he says: "I think we 
may safely affirm that we must abstain from assign- 
ing to Buddhism the smallest direct influence on the 
origin of Christianity." 

The fundamental teachings of Christ are diamet- 
rically opposed to the teachings of Buddha. Christ 
represents Himself as having oneness and equality 
with the eternal God who is our Father; that God is 
a personal Creator; that He is a Helper even in this 
life; that life is a sacred trust and that the body is 
the temple of the Holy Ghost; that salvation comes 
through faith that transforms and purifies the life. 

Buddhism was not so much a revolt against 

287 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

Brahmanism as a natural outgrowth from it. The 
two religions have many things in common. It was 
prevalently believed in India that an Enlightened 
One visited the world from time to time, and that 
there had been twenty-four such Enlightened Ones, 
and that Buddha was the twenty-fifth in the line of 
succession, but possibly not the last one. 

Buddhism disappeared from India — the land of 
its birth. It grew rapidly in the surrounding coun- 
tries, but died in India because so like Brahmanism 
and Jainism that it seemed to fill no particular place 
or meet any great need. It is related to Brahmanism 
somewhat as Christianity is to Judaism, or Prot- 
estantism to Romanism. In each instance the 
branch has become mightier than the stock. Buddha 
lived and died a Hindu and had no thought that the 
new faith was incompatible with the old. He aspired 
to be a true exponent of the ancient Vedic faith. 

It is not easy to explain the success of Buddhism, 
but the impressive personality of Buddha and the 
great sacrifices which he made attracted the people 
to him. Then, further, many of the people were dis- 
pleased with the pretensions and pomp of the Brah- 
mans. Rajah after Rajah declared for Buddhism 
and against Brahmanism. Brahmanism did not 
persecute Buddhism, but gently took it in its arms and 
gradually sucked out its life-blood. 



288 



CHAPTER XXII 

Mormonism 

IN studying Mormonism we have the advantage 
of having first-hand information, for the founder, 
Joseph Smith, Jr., was born December 23, 1805, 
at Sharon, Vermont. Some of our oldest citizens 
knew him and his family, and they related facts that 
are now common history in the communities where 
they lived, and this is far more interesting and in the 
main more reliable than depending on musty records 
and traditions. 

His relatives were poor, shiftless, and untrust- 
worthy, and young Joseph was generally regarded 
as the worst in the lot — worst simply because he was 
smarter and thereby better able to carry out his 
schemes of deception and fraud. Orson Pratt, his 
Mormon biographer, says that "Smith could write 
with difficulty and was absolutely ignorant of the 
branches taught in common schools at that time." 
When in his teens he assumed an air of mystery 
coupled with great craftiness. In 1830 he announced 
that an angel appeared to him some three years 
before and told him that in a hill near his home, 
which was then in Palmyra, New York, he would find 
some plates that had been hidden for fourteen cen- 
turies. In 1825 he purchased a "peep-stone," which 
he claimed enabled him to locate veins of metal and 
other treasures. Some people who were ready to 
take advantage of the get-rich-quick scheme em- 
" 289 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

ployed him. He claimed to get a revelation telling 
him that the plates he had found were in Reformed 
Egyptian and that he could translate them by means 
of the peep-stone. 

In 1827 he married Emma Hale, much against her 
father's will. She said of him: "I first became ac- 
quainted with Joseph Smith, Jr., in November, 1825. 
He was at that time in the employ of a set of men 
who were called Money-diggers, and his occupation 
was seeing or pretending to see by means of a stone 
placed in his hat and his hat closed over his face. 
In this way he pretended to discover minerals and 
hidden treasure." 

In 1831 Smith moved to Kirkland, Ohio, where 
he claimed to receive a revelation, saying, "I will 
consecrate the riches of the Gentiles unto my people." 
Smith and his followers began systematic thievery, 
which resulted in people tarring and feathering him. 
This treatment drew many people to him who gave 
him financial aid. He organized the Kirkland Bank, 
that soon had $150,000 on deposit. Great crowds 
gathered on Sunday to hear Sjnith prophesy and tell 
of his strange visions. On one occasion he told the 
people that on the following Sunday he would walk 
on the water. An immense crowd gathered to witness 
the miracle, but were not permitted to go near the 
water. Smith delivered his address, walked on the 
water, and announced that he would do the same 
the next Sabbath. Many of the ignorant and super- 
stitious people went to their homes believing that he 
was a veritable God. An immense throng gathered 
on the following Sabbath to witness a greater miracle. 
Some inquisitive boys had been so irreverent as to 

290 



MORMONISM 

explore the pond and remove one of the boards that 
formed the walk near the surface of the water. 
Smith fell in and his deception was exposed. One 
of the boys who had a part in removing the board that 
brought the collapse was living in Kirkland until 
recently and was a highly respected citizen. 

Some of Smith's followers charged him with 
crimes that were highly immoral, and rumors that he 
Was dishonest took definite form. The bubble burst 
and Smith fled to Missouri, and many of the bank 
depositors lost all that they had. In Missouri the 
same plan of "consecrating the riches of the Gen- 
tiles" was followed, until finally a mass meeting was 
called, which declared: "It is a duty we owe to our- 
selves, to our wives and children, to the cause of 
public morals, to remove them from among us." 

Difficulties arose among the followers themselves, 
as well as between the Mormons and the Gentiles. 
There was intense excitement and mob law prevailed 
until the militia came and the Mormons fled to 
Illinois. General Clark, who commanded the militia, 
made this statement in his report to his superior: 
"These people have banded themselves together in 
societies, the object of which is first to drive from 
their society such as refuse to join them in their 
unholy purposes, and then to plunder the surround- 
ing country, and ultimately subject the State to their 
rule." 

In 1841 the cornerstone of the Nauvoo Temple 
was laid with great pomp. Smith was at the head in 
the uniform of a lieutenant-general — a rank held by 
no one since Washington. The temple cost $1 ,000,000. 
Smith ruled with a high hand, and some of his fol- 

291 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

lowers hurled at him charges of dishonesty and im- 
morality. Smith announced himself as candidate for 
the Presidency of the United States. He sent out 
two thousand missionaries in behalf of his candidacy. 
"The people of Illinois now regretted they had not 
granted the repeated request of Missouri for the ex- 
tradition of Smith as a fugitive from the law." Re- 
bellion arose among his followers. The citizens held 
a mass meeting at which resolutions were passed 
calling for a war of extermination of Smith and his 
followers, to which Smith replied: "Before I will 
bear this unhallowed persecution any longer, I will 
spill the last drop of blood in my veins and I will see 
my enemies in hell. I will fight with gun, cannon, 
sword, whirlwind, and thunder until they are used 
up like Kilkenny cats." Smith was arrested and 
put into jail at Carthage, Illinois, some fifteen miles 
from Nauvoo, and the excitement among the people 
began to abate. A mob formed and surrounded the 
jail, and the guards looked on while Joseph Smith, 
Jr., and his brother Hyrum suffered martyrdom 
June 27, 1844. This was murder pure and simple. 
The mob heard that Smith's friends in Nauvoo were 
organizing for revenge and they scattered north, 
south, and east, and did not attempt a reorganiza- 
tion. The followers heard that the mob was headed 
for Nauvoo bent on their extermination, and they 
fled west. The jail where Smith was murdered is a 
small, two-story brick building about twenty by thirty 
feet that looks much as it did the day of the tragedy. 
Some five years ago, about 1913, this building was 
purchased by Mormons from Salt Lake who came 
incognito. It seems they are planning to make 

292 



MORMONISM 

Carthage, and especially this jail, a Mecca corre- 
sponding to the Mecca of the Mohammedans. 

Mormonism is often referred to as the Islam of 
America, in that it endorses the practice of polygamy, 
has a sensual heaven, and a Bible (the Book of Mor- 
mon) much like the Koran, but especially because it 
is more a political organization than a religion. If 
we were to pause here we would never understand 
the marvelous man whose history we have traced 
thus briefly, neither would we know the 500,000 
people who speak his name with reverence. We will 
lift the curtain on obscurity and invite into the light 
and to the fore persons who made him what he was. 

Martin Harris was a versatile religious enthusiast 
who flitted from one denomination to another, being 
first a Quaker, then a Universalist, afterwards a 
Baptist, and finally a Presbyterian. He became 
Smith's strong support intellectually and financially. 
This eccentric character claimed to talk face to face 
with Jesus whenever he chose, and had made one or 
two trips to the moon, and was on intimate terms 
with ghosts and the devil. He described all of these 
experiences in lurid terms. Harris was a man of 
means and a lover of notoriety — who became Smith's 
intimate friend, partner, and amanuensis. Smith 
and Harris sat at different sides of a curtain while 
Smith translated the plates and Harris put his state- 
ments in readable English, Sxnith being illiterate. 
Isaac Hale, Smith's father-in-law, declared the writ- 
ing a silly fabrication and Smith a fraud who was 
trying to dupe the unwary and live off his wits. 
Harris said he would put no more money into the 
enterprise unless he could show his wife the transla- 

293 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

tion. This was permitted and Mrs. Harris kept the 
papers. When Smith failed to get the papers back 
he exclaimed, "O, my God, all is lost!" He knew 
he could not produce another translation and feared 
Mrs. Harris would produce the original should he 
try it. This incident caused a break between Smith 
and Harris. Mrs. Harris was greatly relieved, for 
she had no confidence in Smith and claimed he was 
after her husband's money. 

Soon after the break between Smith and Harris 
another man appeared on the scene. This was the 
Reverend Sidney Rigdon, who had been expelled 
from the Baptist Church and joined the Disciple 
Church. He soon lost standing with the Disciples, 
and Alexander Campbell denounced both Smith and 
Rigdon as impostors and the Book of Mormon a 
forgery. Smith showed Harris a copy of a page of 
the Reformed Egyptian. Harris showed this to 
Professor Charles Anthon, who recognized at once 
that it was a fraud. "It consisted of all kinds of 
crooked characters and showed that it had been 
done by one who had before him a book containing 
various alphabets." 

Here we meet another very important character 
who is necessary to complete the circle and produce 
the Book of Mormon. Solomon Spaulding graduated 
from Dartmouth School of Theology in 1787. He 
failed in the ministry, although a brilliant literary 
man. He moved to what is now Conneaut, Ohio, 
and turned his attention to writing stories discredit- 
ing the Bible. His first story pretended that a manu- 
script found in a stone box in a cave gave an account 
of the aborigines of America, who, he claimed, were 

294 



MORMONISM 

descended from the lost Ten Tribes of Israel. Spauld- 
ing put his manuscript into the hands of a printer in 
Pittsburgh, by the name of Patterson, who was a 
personal friend of Rigdon. Rigdon showed Reverend 
John Winter a "Romance of the Bible," which he 
said was written by a minister named Spaulding. 
The daughter of Dr. Winter testifies: "I have fre- 
quently heard my father speak of Rigdon having 
Spaulding's manuscript and that he had gotten it 
from the printer to read as a curiosity." When 
Spaulding was on his deathbed he charged Rigdon 
with stealing his manuscript that he left with Pat- 
terson. 

When the real work of getting out the Book of 
Mormon began Spaulding and his printer were dead. 
When the IVIormon Elders came to Rigdon's com- 
munity he made a great pretense at defending his 
doctrine and was then miraculously converted and 
baptized. Spaulding's brother and several friends 
recognized at once that the Book of Mormon was 
simply Spaulding's "Romance" written over with 
Biblical terminology.. In 1884 an outline of Spauld- 
ing's "Romance" which had been lost sight of since 
1834 fell into the hands of President Fairchild of 
Oberlin, which he deposited in the college library. 
This manuscript is proof positive that the Book of 
Mormon is a forgery — a working over of Spaulding's 
manuscript. The book contained many modern ref- 
erences and the phraseology of the King James Ver- 
sion of our Bible, showing that it did not originate as 
Smith claimed. In 1832 Alexander Campbell wrote: 
"The prophet Smith through his stone spectacles 
wrote on the plates of Nephi, in his Book of Mormon, 

295 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

every error and almost every truth discussed in New 
York for the last ten years." If historical records 
are worth anything, they prove that Smith was a 
deceiver, a thief, a libertine, and a drunkard. 

After Smith's death his followers were divided on 
the question of his successor. Rigdon wanted to be 
president, but Brigham Young succeeded in dispos- 
ing of Rigdon and became chief in authority. The 
Mormons continued their systematic thievery and 
open defiance of law till the governor ordered them 
to leave the State; so in April, 1847, Young and his 
followers started West and arrived in Salt Lake City 
on the 24th day of the following July, which date is 
celebrated by them as "Pioneer Day." Young died 
August 29, 1877, and was recognized as the husband 
of twenty-five wives and the father of forty- four 
children. The writer was shown around Salt Lake 
City by a very polite Mormon Elder, from whom he 
extracted much information. Upon reaching the 
grave of Brigham Young's eighteenth wife he ven- 
tured the inquiry: "Is plural marriage as pop- 
ular with the women of Utah as it is among the 
men?" The answer came promptly: "It is more 
popular among the women. My wife has tried re- 
peatedly to get me to marry other women." The 
writer then inquired, "Why does your wife want you 
to marry other women?" He then explained certain 
points in Mormon theology to throw light on this 
mystery, saying: "You must know that the joy of 
heaven depends largely on the size of the family in 
this life. Wife and I have two boys, and she said to 
me recently: 'Suppose on the Day of Judgment God 
should be on His throne and when the roll is called 

296 



MORMONISM 

and Abraham with his wives, concubines, and chil- 
dren should go forward to receive their reward — 
what a magnificent spectacle! If your name should 
be called, don't you think I would feel some shame in 
going up with you and only two boys?' " 

Young arrived in Utah without money, but his 
estate at the time of his death was valued at $3,000,- 
000. On September 11, 1857, a party of emigrants 
numbering one hundred and twenty, composed of 
men, women, and children, who were journeying to 
California by way of Utah, were treacherously mur- 
dered at a place called Mountain Meadow. This 
massacre was planned by the Mormons and carried 
out by the Mormons and Indians jointly. The 
Mormons had a prayer meeting of thanksgiving be- 
cause their enemies were delivered into their hands, 
at which they swore each other to secrecy and divided 
the cash and plunder among themselves, which 
amounted to more than $70,000. That this crime 
might not be detected, Young, on September 15, 
1857, issued a proclamation to his Legion to drive 
all armed troops from Utah. This proclamation 
brought a clash between the Legion and the United 
States troops. After months of fighting and parley- 
ing, Young abjectly surrendered and claimed loyalty. 
The Civil War came on soon afterward and this 
awful crime was never properly investigated. 

The Government report for 1909 showed that 
eighty-seven per cent of all members of religious 
organizations in Utah are members of the Mormon 
Church. Their political influence may be estimated 
by the following statistics, when we remember that 
they act as a unit in all political matters: 

297 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 



Mormons 



in California 40,000 

* Washington 61,000 

' Colorado 83,000 

' Oregon 58,000 

' Montana 87,000 

' Utah 212,000 

' New Mexico 24,000 

' Idaho 81,000 

' Arizona 39,000 

' Wyoming 46,000 

' Nevada 22,000 



They exert a political influence that is out of propor- 
tion to their numbers. Their spirit and method are 
not in harmony with our Government. 



MoRMONisM Revealed by Government Investi- 
gation 

The following extracts are from the report of the 
United States Senate Committee on Privileges and 
Elections, which conducted the most thorough in- 
vestigation ever made of "The Church of Jesus Christ 
of Latter Day Saints," commonly called the Mormon 
Church, submitted June 11, 1906. (See Senate Re- 
port 4253, Part One, Fifty-ninth Congress.) This 
report was signed by four Democrats and four 
Republicans — an evidence of its truthfulness as well 
as its impartiality; 

Polygamy 

"The first presidency and twelve apostles of the 
Mormon Church are a self-perpetuating body of 
fifteen men. 

"The first presidency and twelve apostles govern 
the church by means of so-called revelations from 

298 



MORMONISM 

God, which revelations are given to the membership 
of the church as emanating from divine authority. 

''Those members of the Mormon Church who re- 
fuse to obey the revelations so communicated by the 
priesthood thereby become out of harmony with the 
church, and are thus practically excluded from the 
blessings, benefits, and privileges of membership in 
the church 

"This authority of the first presidency and twelve 
apostles is so exercised over the members of the 
Mormon Church as to inculcate a belief in the divine 
origin of polygamy and its rightfulness as a practice, 
and also to encourage the membership of that church 
in the practice of polygamy and polygamous co- 
habitation. 

"It is proved without denial that the Book of 
Doctrine and Covenants, one of the leading author- 
ities of the Mormon Church, and still circulated by 
that church as a book equal in authority to the 
Bible and the Book of Mormon, contains the revela- 
tion regarding polygamy, of which the following is 
a part : 

Section 132, Book of Doctrine and Covenants 

" '61. And again, as pertaining to the law of the 
priesthood: If any man espouse a virgin and desires 
to espouse another, and the first give her consent, 
and if he espouse the second, and they are virgins 
and have vowed to no other man, then he is justified; 
he cannot commit adultery, for they are given unto 
him; for he cannot commit adultery with that that 
belongeth to him and to no one else. 

" '62. And if he have ten virgins given unto him 
by this law he cannot commit adultery, for they 
belong to him and they are given unto him; there- 
fore is he justified. 

" '64. And again, verily, verily, I say unto you, 
if any man hath a wife who holds the keys of this 
power and he teaches unto her the law of my priest- 

299 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

hood as pertaining to these things, then shall she 
believe and administer unto him, or she shall be 
destroyed, saith the Lord your God, for I will destroy 
her; for I will magnify My name upon all those who 
receive and abide in My law.' 

"Other publications of the Mormon Church are 
still circulated among the members of that church, 
with the knowledge and by the authority of the 
church officials, which contain arguments in favor of 
polygamy. 

"The leaders in this church, the first presidency 
and the twelve apostles, connive at the practice of 
taking plural wives, and have done so ever since the 
manifesto was issued which purported to put an end 
to the practice. 

"The list of those who are thus guilty of violating 
the laws of the State and the rules of public decency 
is headed by Joseph F. Smith, the first president, 
'prophet, seer, and revelator' of the Mormon Church, 
who testified in regard to that subject as follows: 

" 'Mr. Smith. — I have had born to me eleven 
children since 1890, each of my wives being the 
mother of from one to two of those children.' 

" 'The Chairman. — Mr. Smith, I will not press it, 
but I will ask if you have any objection to stating 
how many children you have in all.' 

" 'Mr. Smith. — I have had born to me, sir, forty- 
two children — twenty-one boys and twenty-one girls 
— and I am proud of every one of them.' 

" 'The Chairman. — Do you obey the law in having 
five wives at this time, and having them bear to you 
eleven children since the manifesto of 1890?' 

" 'Mr. Smith. — Mr. Chairman, I have not claimed 
that in that case I have obeyed the law of the land.' 

" 'The Chairman. — That is all.' 

" 'Mr. Smith. — I do not claim so, and, as I said 
before, that I prefer to stand my chances against the 
law.* 

"The first presidency and twelve apostles not 

300 



MORMONISM 

only connive at violation of, but protect and honor 
the violators of the laws against polygamy and 
polygamous cohabitation. 

"It will be seen by the foregoing that not only 
do the first presidency and twelve apostles encourage 
polygamy by precept and teaching, but that a ma- 
jority of the members of that body of rulers of the 
Mormon people give the practice of polygamy still 
further and greater encouragement by living the lives 
of polygamists, and this openly and in the sight of all 
their followers in the Mormon Church. 

"And not only do the president and majority of 
the twelve apostles of the Mormon Church practice 
polygamy, but in the case of each and every one 
guilty of this crime who testified before the com- 
mittee, the determination was expressed openly and 
defiantly to continue the commission of this crime 
without regard to the mandates of the law or the 
prohibition contained in the manifesto. 

"It appears that the 'prophet, seer, and revelator' 
of the Mormon Church pronounces a decree of eternal 
condemnation throughout all eternity upon all mem- 
bers of the Mormon Church who, having taken 
plural wives, fail to continue the polygamous relation. 

"The testimony upon that subject, taken as a 
whole, can leave no doubt upon any reasonable 
mind that those who are in authority in the Mormon 
Church are encouraging the practice of polygamy 
among the members of that church, and that polygamy 
is being practiced to such an extent as to call for the 
severest condemnation in all legitimate ways." 

Domination in Secular Affairs 

"The first presidency and twelve apostles of the 
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Da}^ Saints exercise 
a controlling influence over the action of the members 
of that church in secular affairs as well as in spiritual 
matters. 

"The method by which the first presidency and 

301 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

twelve apostles of the Mormon Church direct all the 
temporal affairs of the members of that church under 
the claim that such direction is by divine authority, 
is by requiring the members of the church in all their 
affairs, both spiritual and temporal, and especially 
the latter, to 'take counsel.' 

''The phrase 'take counsel' does not mean that 
the members of the church shall inquire of those 
above them in all cases concerning their action, but 
that they shall receive counsel — that is, direction — 
from those above them, and this counsel they are to 
implicitly obey. If they fail to do so they are ex- 
communicated from the church and deprived not 
only of the privileges of membership in the church, 
but, as they are assured and believe, they thereby 
forfeit all hope of happiness in a future life." 

Political Domination 

"The hierarchy at the head of the Mormon 
Church has for years past formed a perfect union 
between the Mormon Church and the State of Utah, 
and the church, through its head, dominates the 
affairs of the State in things both great and small. 

"In order to realize the potency of the influence 
which the ruling authorities of the Mormon Church 
exercise in political affairs, it must be kept in mind 
that this influence proceeds from men who are be- 
lieved by their followers to be oracles of God; that 
whatsoever they speak is the word of God; and that 
the first presidency of the Mormon Church and the 
council of the twelve apostles are 'the mouthpiece 
of God.' " 

Union of Church and State 

"The fact that the adherents of the Mormon 
Church hold the balance of power in politics in some 
of the States enables the first presidency and twelve 
apostles to control the political affairs of those States 
to any extent they may desire. 

302 



MORMONISM 

"The union of church and State in those States 
under the domination of the Mormon leaders is 
most abhorrent to our free institutions." 

Oath of Vengeance 

"You and each of you do covenant and promise 
that you will pray and never cease to pray Almighty 
God to avenge the blood of the prophets upon this 
nation, and that you will teach the same to your 
children and to your children's children unto the 
third and fourth generation. 

"The obligation hereinbefore set forth is an oath 
of disloyalty to the Government which the rulers of 
the Mormon Church require, or at least encourage, 
every member of that organization to take." 

Mormon leaders have told the writer that the 
action of our Government regarding plural mar- 
riage is contrary to God's teaching and is an unjust 
interference in their religious matters. There is but 
little in the articles of faith of the Mormon Church 
to indicate danger to the home or the Nation. 

Articles of Faith of the Mormons 

Article 1. — We believe in God, the Eternal Father, 
and His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost. 

Article 2. — We believe that men will be punished 
for their own sins, and not for Adam's transgressions. 

Article 3. — We believe that through the atone- 
ment of Christ all mankind may be saved, by obedi- 
ence to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel. 

Article 4. — We believe that the first principles and 
ordinances of the Gospel are: First, faith in the 
Lord Jesus Christ; second, repentance; third, bap- 
tism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, 
laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost. 

303 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

Article 5. — We believe that a man must be called 
of God, by "prophecy and by the laying on of hands," 
by those who are in authority, to preach the Gospel 
and administer in the ordinances thereof. 

Article 6. — We believe in the same organization 
that existed in the primitive church, namely, apostles, 
prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists, etc. 

Article 7. — We believe in the gift of tongues, 
prophecy, revelation, visions, healing, interpretation 
of tongues, etc. 

Article 8. — We believe the Bible to be the Word 
of God, so far as it is translated correctly; we also 
believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God. 

Article 9. — We believe all that God has revealed, 
all that He does now reveal, and we believe that He 
will yet reveal many great and important things per- 
taining to the kingdom of God. (See under 7 and 8.) 

Article 10. — We believe in the literal gathering oof 
Israel and in the restoration of the ten tribes. That 
Zion will be built upon this continent. That Christ 
will reign personally upon the earth, and that the 
earth will be renewed and receive its paradisiacal 
glory. 

Article 11. — We claim the privilege of worshiping 
Almighty God according to the dictates of our con- 
science, and allow all men the same privilege, let 
them worship how, where, or what they may. 

Article 12. — We believe in being subject to kings, 
presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honor- 
ing, and sustaining the law. 

Article 13. — We believe in being honest, true, 
chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to 
all men; indeed, we may say that we follow the 
admonition of Paul: "We believe all things, we hope 
all things." We have endured many things, and 
hope to be able to endure all things. If there is 
anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praise- 
worthy, we seek after these things. 

304 



MORMONISM 

In their "Catechism," "Compendium of The- 
ology," "Doctrine and Covenants," "Journal of 
Discourses," "Juvenile Instructor," "Key to The- 
ology," all printed and circulated by the authority 
of the Mormon Church, are many things that are 
not brought out clearly in the Articles of Faith. 
Here are some of the things to which reference is 
made : 

Christ was married to the two Marys and Martha 
at the wedding in Cana of Galilee. 

That Joseph Smith and Jesus Christ should have 
equal honor. 

That the Holy Ghost is the same as electricity, 
galvanism, magnetism, etc. 

That the living should be baptized for the dead. 

That Mormon priests are infallible and have 
jurisdiction over all things spiritual and temporal. 

That there are persons among the Mormons who 
can make Scripture as good and authoritative as the 
Bible. 

That the blood covenant — the taking of the life 
of a person to prevent his apostasy from the church — 
is a duty. 

That there is no difference between spirit and 
matter. 

That God is matter. 

That all Mormon men will eventually be gods. 

That polygamy is right and enables man to 
propagate bodies for spirits that might become gods. 

That "God created man as we create our children." 
All who deny the plurality of wives will find their 
place in hell. The husband is a god, and can prevent 
his wife's resurrection if she does not obey him. 



20 



305 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

The organization of the Mormon Church is very 

complete as given by Mr. Roberts in 1902, and is as 

follows : 

First Presidency 3 

Apostles 12 

Patriarchs 200 

High Priests 6,800 

Seventies 9,730 

Elders 20,000 

Total of the Melchizedek 

Priesthood 36,745 

There are about 25,700 in the Lesser Priesthood. 

They are propagandists and have missionaries in 
all parts of the world. These missionaries make 
their appeal to spiritual people who are dissatisfied 
with the spiritual life in their local church. In their 
sly and insinuating methods they are not unlike the 
missionaries of some of the modern cults that are 
trying to do harvesting in the Church. 

The educated young people are breaking away 
from the Mormon Church, which would decline but 
for the recruits won by the 2,000 missionaries, who 
gel their living from the people among whom they 
labor. They stand no chance for Church preferment 
until they have given at least two years to this work. 
The tithing system is insisted upon and brings large 
revenue to the church. The Protestant churches of 
Utah for the following ten reasons refuse to recognize 
the Mormons as a Christian church: 

First. — The Mormon Church unchurches all Chris- 
tians. It recognizes itself alone as the church. From 
its beginning to the present it has insisted, from press 

306 



MORMONISM 

and platform, that all Christian churches, of what- 
ever name, nation, or century, since apostolic times, 
are not only apostate from the truth, but propagators 
of error and false doctrine, without authority to 
teach, preach, or administer the sacraments; that 
salvation and exaltation are found alone in the church 
organized by Joseph Smith. Thus they unchurch 
and disfellowship all Christians, and demand that all 
yield to the Mormon priesthood or perish. 

Second. — The Mormon Church places the "Book 
of Mormon" and the "Book of Doctrine and Cov- 
enants" on a par with the Bible, and requires subscrip- 
tion to the inspiration and authority of those books 
as a condition of acceptance with God and of fellow- 
ship with His people. Their so-called revelations of 
the present are put on the same level with the Bible. 

Third. — The Mormon Church makes belief in the 
person and mission of Joseph Smith as a prophet of 
God an essential article of faith, so essential that the 
person who rejects the claims of "the modern prophet" 
is a rank heretic. 

Fourth. — The Mormon Church makes faith in the 
Mormon Priesthood and submission to the same es- 
sential to man's future blessedness, and unbelief in 
this priesthood a damning sin. It teaches that 
authority to officiate in the gospel is vested only in 
the said priesthood; that this priesthood is the in- 
fallible and the only medium between God and man; 
that it is invested with the very power of God Himself, 
so that when it acts and speaks it is in the most real 
sense God who acts and speaks; and that all who 
refuse to submit to this priestly power are damned. 

Fifth. — The Mormon Church teaches a doctrine 
of God that is antagonistic to the Scriptures, dis- 
honoring to the Divine Being, and debasing to man. 
It teaches that God is an exalted man, who was once 
as we are now, and who is forever changing, ever ad- 
vancing, becoming more and more perfect, but never 
reaching absolute perfection. 

307 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

Sixth. — The Mormon Church teaches that Adam 
is God, the Supreme God, the Creator of this world, 
our God, and the only God with whom we have to do; 
and that Jesus Christ is His son by natural generation. 

Seventh. — The Mormon Church is Polytheistic. 
It teaches a plurality of gods; and that these became 
gods, having been men. Being men, they became 
gods by practicing plural or celestial marriage and 
the other Mormon principles. 

Eighth. — The Mormon Church teaches an anti- 
Biblical doctrine of salvation. It requires faith in 
Joseph Smith, in the books he produced or translated, 
in the priesthood, in continuous revelation, and in 
baptism by immersion at the hands of a Mormon, 
together with faith in the Father, Son, and Holy 
Ghost (with the Mormon definition of the Trini- 
tarian persons), as conditions of human salvation. It 
uses the atonement of Christ to cover original sin, 
the sin of Adam, and teaches its adherents to depend 
on good works as the basis of pardon for personal 
sins. It also teaches a doctrine of baptism for the 
dead that is antagonistic to the Bible doctrine of 
retribution, and that encourages people to remain 
impenitent. 

Ninth. — The Mormon Church believes in Po- 
lygamy. The doctrine is to them both sacred and 
fundamental. They believe and teach that Jesus 
Christ was a polygamist. The manifesto of Septem- 
ber 24, 1890, was- not a repudiation of the doctrine of 
plural or celestial marriage, and did not claim to be 
such. It was, as all honest Mormons freely confess, 
only a suspension of the practice for the time being. 
They hold the principle to be as eternal as God Him- 
self. 

Tenth. — The Mormon Church teaches that God is 
a Polygamist, the natural father of all intelligent 
beings in heaven, earth, and hell; that angels, men, 
and devils are His offspring by procreation, or natural 
generation; and that Adam is the father of Christ's 

308 



MORMONISM 

human nature, as Brigham Young was father of his 
children. 

"I wish to be perfectly understood here. Let it 
be remembered that the Prophet Joseph Smith 
taught that man, that is, his spirit, is the offspring 
of Deity; not in any mystical sense, but actually. 
. . . "Instead of the God-given power of procrea- 
tion being one of the chief things that is to pass away, 
it is one of the chief means of man's exaltation and 
glory in that great eternity, which, like an endless 
vista, stretches out before him!" . . . ''Through 
that law, in connection with an observance of all the 
other laws of the gospel, man will yet attain unto 
the power of the Godhead, and, like his Father — God 
— his chief glory will be to bring to pass the eternal 
life and happiness of his posterity." — New Witness for 
God, p. 461. 

"New Witness for God," by B. H. Roberts, a 
work issued in 1895, was approved by a committee 
appointed by the First Presidency as "Orthodox and 
consistent with our teachings." 

The Moimon missionaries seek to hide their real 
character by claiming to be "Latter Day Saints." 

Their missionary work throughout the United 
States is more dangerous to our Government than 
the German propaganda which has cost us so much 
blood and treasure. 



309 



CHAPTER XXIII 

Christian Science 

I. Introduction 

CHRISTIAN SCIENCE has often been attacked 
and treated with ridicule. Ridicule is cheap 
and a jest is not an argument. That Chris- 
tian Science performs many cures there is no room 
for doubt. All fair-minded people are convinced that 
many of the followers of Mrs. Eddy are intelligent, 
earnest, sincere Christians. "Man is a religious 
aninial," is incurably religious, and will worship 
something. Human nature delights in the mys- 
terious and delves into the occult. 

On the comnions of the country town congregate 
horse doctors, sleight-of-hand performers, patent- 
medicine quacks, fortune tellers, mesmerists, faith 
healers, etc. 

Religion is the subject of supreme importance to 
man, and around this all-important fact is a large 
religious commons in which all kinds of people are 
ofTering their wares. Until human nature changes 
people will stop, listen, question, get a bargain, pass 
on with a sneer, get bit, etc. No other field in all the 
realm of human thought is so fruitful as the common 
that lies within the religious realm. This comes from 
the supreme importance of the subject, and from the 
further fact that religion appeals to the emotions as 
well as to the intellect. 

To unduly stress the emotions in religious mat- 

310 



CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

ters leads to mental abnormality. Many persons, 
both in and out of Christian Science, possess or are 
possessed by a nervous, abnormal religion that is 
meaningless to other people. To say that such a 
religion is a delusion to the possessor and a snare to 
the public is not denying to all the devotees true or 
right motives and deep sincerity of purpose. The 
one who denounces and sneers at all other religions 
is not commending his own. 

II. The Claims of Christian Science 

1. The claims for Christian Science, while not 
new, are nevertheless astounding and far-reaching. 
They start by joining themselves to Bishop Berke- 
ley's idealistic school of philosophy. Byron's lines 
are still appropriate: 

"When Bishop Berkeley says there is no matter, 
It is no matter what Bishop Berkeley says." 

The ideas advanced on this subject have been cur- 
rent in India for thousands of years, and are simply 
a transference. 

2. "Sin is not a reality, for God's kingdom is 
everywhere and supreme." 

"Man is but God's reflection, and is therefore 
complete and has no sin." 

"Man is incapable of sin, has always been per- 
fect, is now and always will be." 

"Universal salvation rests on progression." 

"Disease and death have no reality, but are 
simply an error of mortal mind." 

3. "Food, stomach, bowels, and clothing are not 

311 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

important factors to life and health. Minerals and 
vegetables are found to be creations of thought." 

4. In discussing mental malpractice, Mrs. Eddy 
claims to be omniscient. She repeatedly affirms that 
she is inspired of God to proclaim His gospel and 
that "Science and Health" is inerrant. She claimed 
she came to complete the work of Jesus and that she 
is His equal in inspiration, and that "Science and 
Health" completes the Bible. 

She urged Christian unity and represented it in 
a picture drawn by her own hand, in which the 
Founder of Christianity and the founder of Christian 
Science stand side by side, holding each other's hand 
and a halo encircles their heads. 

5. Speaking against Christian Science is declared 
to be the sin against the Holy Ghost. 

6. She claimed to work many miracles, some 
seemed trivial and meaningless, but others were of 
vast importance. 

(a) "She caused an apple tree to put forth a 
blossom in January when the ground was covered 
with snow." 

(b) "I healed consumption in its last stage; 
malignant diphtheria; and I healed a cancer at one 
visit that had eaten away the flesh to the jugular 
vein." 

(c) "I raised my husband to life three times." 

(d) She represented herself to be the woman 
"clothed with the sun" spoken of in the Book of 
Revelation. 

(e) She denies the personality of God. 

(f) "The second appearing of Jesus is unques- 
tionably the advent of God as in Christian Science." 

312 



CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

III. The History of Mrs. Eddy 

We must pause to inquire about the person mak- 
ing these far-reaching statements. 

1. Mary A. M. Baker was born at Bow, New 
Hampshire, July 16, 1821. As a child she was frail, 
nervous, fretful, and could not get along with other 
children. When she came to womanhood these 
traits were more marked and she was susceptible to 
mesmeric influences and became a spiritualistic 
medium. 

2. In 1862 she began to take treatment of P. P. 
Quimby, of Portland, Maine. At the end of her 
treatment with Quimby she wrote a commendation 
of Quimby which was published in the Portland 
Evening Courier , expressing her gratitude to him for 
what he had done for her, in which she repudiated 
the idea that he healed by animal magnetism as 
some claimed. She said: "He heals by the truth he 
establishes in his patients. He opposes this truth to 
the error of giving intelligence and pain to matter." 

In 1871 she said the system she used was learned 
from Quimby, who practiced the same. The ''deadly 
parallel" of passages from Quimby 's manuscript and 
"Science and Health" show this statement to be 
correct. 

3. In 1842 she married Geo. W. Glover, a brick- 
layer, and moved to Wilmington, North Carolina, 
where he died three months after their marriage and 
six months before the birth of their son. 

In 1853 she married Daniel Patterson, from whom 
she was divorced in 1873. 

In 1877 she was married to Gilbert A. Eddy, who 

313 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

died some years later, leaving as his testimony that 
neither he nor God could live in peace with his wife. 
Many of her neighbors claimed she was married 
again to one Calvin A. Frye, who was h3r servant, 
her man-of-all-work, the one who went with her on 
drives, her private secretary who handled her mail 
and money and held the title to her property. Per- 
sons who lived in the house with them said if they 
were not married, they should be. Dame Rumor cir- 
culated many stories reflecting on her moral character. 
All persons should remember Shakespeare's words : 

"He who filches from me my good name, 
Robs me of that, which not enriches him, 
And makes me poor indeed." 

IV. Dangerous Teaching 

1. God revealed Himself in a Man, Christ, and 
later in a woman, Mrs. Eddy. 

2. Christian Science was revealed to Mrs. Eddy 
in 1866, though her written statement of the year 
before says she learned it from Dr. Quimby. 

Dr. P. P. Quimby emphasized certain well-known 
truths, that Mrs. Eddy commercialized. The world 
would be happier if these truths were properly em- 
phasized and kept free from the realms of supersti- 
tion and commercialism. The mind influences the 
body and controls many diseases of a nervous na- 
ture. Every truth that Christian Science stands for 
is old and has been recognized by teachers and 
writers for thousands of years. These truths have 
been more or less prominent in the philosophies of 
India for two thousand years. Mrs. Eddy was 
illiterate and misinterpreted many of these philo- 

314 



CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

sophical statements which she did not understand. 
Her writings are a meaningless, wearisome jumble 
and endless repetition of unsupportable assertions. 

In her denial of matter she is following Berkeley's 
"Idealism," which she does not understand. She 
says: 

"You may gash the body, pound it to a pulp, and 
experience no more pain than a tree." 

"There is no power in a drug, but only in the be- 
lief about the drug. Morphine produces death only 
because the majority opinion thinks it is poison." 

"Cold is a thing of the imagination." 

"Thirst is imaginary." 

"Sight is not of the eye. The eye is a delusion, 
and its disease is a vain imagination." 

"Christian Science is warranted to grow teeth at 
ninety years of age." 

"Food neither strengthens nor weakens the 
body." 

"When God impelled me to set a price on Christian 
Science, I was led to name three hundred dollars as 
the price for each pupil. I shrank from asking it, but 
I was finally led by a strange Providence to accept this 
fee." 

"Every Christian Scientist requires my work, 
'Science and Health,' for his text-book, as do all my 
students and patients." 

(This book cost forty cents and sold for three dollars 
in cheapest edition.) There were frequent changes — 
at times the alteration of only one line — and the 
order went forth for the purchase of a new edition. 

March 14, 1897, all Christian Scientists were en- 
joined from teaching for one year and ordered to sell 
her "Miscellaneous Writings." 

On December 21, 1899, she published the follow- 
ing card: 

315 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

"Beloved, I ask this favor of all Christian Sci- 
entists: Do not give on, before, ar after the forth- 
coming holidays aught but three tea-jackets. All 
may contribute to these." 

In May, 1899, she appealed to all who loved her 
to purchase a new likeness of herself which she had 
just had produced. 

Christian Science Spoons. "On each of these 
most beautiful spoons is a motto in bas-relief that 
every person on earth needs to hold in thought. 
Mother requests that Christian Scientists shall not 
ask to be informed what this motto is, but each 
Scientist shall purchase at least one spoon, and those 
who can afford it, one dozen spoons, that their fam- 
ilies may read the motto at every meal and their 
guests be made partakers of its simple truth." (Price 
of spoons three dollars each.) The motto was: 
"Not matter, but mind, satisfies." 

"Marriage is synonymous with legalized lust." 
"Generation rests on no sexual basfs." 

In June, 1890, Mrs. Woodbury, one of Mrs. 
Eddy's most noted followers, gave birth to a son 
who she claimed and who her followers believed was 
the result of an Immaculate Conception and an 
exemplification of Mrs. Eddy's theory of mental 
generation. Mrs. Woodbury never permitted the 
child to call her husband "Father," but taught the 
child to call her husband "Frank." She named the 
child "The Prince of Peace," and baptized him at 
Ocean Point, Maine, in a pool which she called 
"Bethsaida." 

After Mrs. Eddy and Mrs. Woodbury had the 
usual falling out, Mrs. Eddy wrote Mrs. Woodbury 

316 



CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

a letter which was read in court, in which she accused 
Mrs. Woodbury, and said, "You tried to make 
people believe that that child was an immaculate 
conception." 

As the war between the two women became more 
intense, Mrs. Woodbury, in an attempt to explain 
how she had been led to make such an extraordinary 
claim, and with a revengeful desire to make Mrs. 
Eddy sponsor for her own teachings with the censure 
she knew would naturally attach to them in the 
minds of decent and respectable people, declared that 
Mrs. Eddy taught that "women may become mothers 
by a supreme effort of their own minds." "Women," 
she says, "of unquestioned integrity, who have been 
Mrs. Eddy's students, testify that she so taught," 
and "Girls," she said, "were terrified by the doc- 
trine that they might be m.ade pregnant through the 
influence of a malign spirit," or the workings of a 
maliciously disposed mind. 

Heaven deliver the American home from such 
teaching! God save our pure girls from its blight! 

"Christian Science teaches that a maliciously dis- 
posed person can bring the power and influence of 
his or her mind to so bear upon another as to cause 
'arsenical poison in the blood or stomach — to cause, 
in fact, any form of sickness and even the most 
terrible of deaths.' " 

Christian Science, or Mrs. Eddy, makes the fol- 
lowing denials which contradict Scripture: 

1. The personality of God : 

"God is principle, not person." 

2. The creation of the universe: 

"God never created matter." 
317 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

3. The creation of man: 

"Man coexists with God." 

4. The existence of sin: 

"Man is incapable of sin." 

5. Denies the doctrine of the trinity: 

"The theon- oi three persons in one God 
is heathen." 

6. Denies the Holy Ghost: 

"The Comforter is Christian Science." 

7. Denies the efficacy of prayer: 

"Prayer to a personal God is an error 

that impedes spiritual growth." 
S. Denies the forgiveness of sin: 

"Sin is not forgi\en." 
9. Denies the Final Judgment: 

"No final judgment awaits mortals." 

10. Denies the Resurrection of Christ: 

"The tomb ga^*e Jesus a refuge from His 
foes — a place in which He solved the 
problems of life. The disciples learned 
that He had not died." 

11. Denies the Divinity of Christ: 

"Christian Science sees Jesus not as God. 
but as a divinity expressed in the ideal 
man." 

Speaking of Joanna Southcott. Macaulay said: 
"We have seen an old woman with no talent beyond 
that of a fortune teller, and with the education of a 
scullion, exalted into a prophetess and surrounded by 
tens of thousvinds of devoted followers, many of 
whom were, in station and knowledge, her superiors, 
and all this in the nineteenth centur}-, and all this in 
London," 

But for names and places, one would think this 
referred to Mrs. Eddy and Christian Science. But 

318 



CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

for a get-rich-quIck scheme and an up-to-date skin- 
game, the latter has the former beat to a finish. 

V. Questions Raised By This Review 

1. Will not people learn to be arrant liars when 
they are taught to deny sin, pain, matter, and when 
their own common sense tells them there is no truth 
in said denials? There is no denying the fact that 
Mrs. Eddy was a monumental liar. 

2. If they come to believe that sin is unreal, will 
not that belief be detrimental to their moral lives? 

3. Does not Christian Science prey upon the 
Christian churches and draw away nervous, ignorant, 
but well-meaning people, rather than go into the 
highwa^^s and get the unchurched? Does this fact 
indicate a lack of evangelistic force? Is Christian 
Science a religion at all? 

4. Does Christian Science tend to drive sym- 
pathy from the human heart and make its devotees 
selfish and heartless? 

The doctrine of this cult is: 

"Sympathy with sin, sorrow, and sickness would 
dethrone God as truth." Where there is no sympathy 
with sin, sorrow, and sickness, there is no helpful 
service such as characterized the ministry of Christ. 

5. What kind of a spell does this strange cult 
cast over people that causes them to sit for hours 
listening to the reading of senseless jumble? This 
question will arise in the mind of anyone who goes 
into a Christian Science church and listens carefully 

319 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

to the reading from "Science and Health." In many 
places there is no connection with the reading from 
the Bible, and the words are strung together without 
the least reference to sense or meaning. The reader 
of the text-book outranks the reader of the Bible, 
the former being styled First Reader and the latter 
Second Reader. 

6. Lastly, if adult people want to create for them- 
selves a fool's paradise from which all sickness, sin, 
pain, and death are barred out by mental fiat, we 
enter no protest, but we do plead with parents to 
use their common sense and not sacrifice their chil- 
dren to this Moloch of greed. This sad spectacle 
has appeared in nearly every community we have 
known for the past twenty years. 



320 



I 



CHAPTER XXIV 

Minor Religions 

SPEAK of "Minor Religions" because these are 
not so well known and have fewer followers than 
the religions previously discussed. 

Babism 



Babism or Bahism deserves recognition in a work 
of this kind because of its presence and prominence 
in the Occident. Seventy years ago its founder was 
an infant; fifty years ago his doctrine was unformed, 
and forty years ago he ended a prophetic career by 
a martyr's death, leaving behind him a faith which 
numbers its followers by thousands and reckons its 
martyrs by hundreds. This religion lays claim to 
universal acceptance. It is found to-day not simply 
in Persia, but in America and many other parts of 
the world. 

The doctrine of the Imamate deserves notice. 
The Sunni, the Caliph or visible head of the Moham- 
medan church, is simply a defender of the faith, 
elected by the people to safeguard the spiritual in- 
terests of Islam. The Shiite regards the Imams as 
the sole representatives of the prophet. The Imam 
is divinely called to this high office and endowed 
with superhuman powers and virtues, and is sup- 
posed to be infallible. The Imams were twelve in 
number. The eleventh died in A. D. 874 and was 
succeeded by his son, "Imam Mahdi." This Imam 
'"■ 321 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

was from the first involved in mystery and com- 
municated with his followers only through four 
trusty representatives called "Gates" or "Babs." 
When the last of these died he left no successor. 
The last Imam disappeared in 940 A. D., and the 
devotees of this faith believe he is still living incognito 
in the city of Jabulka, from which place he will come 
forth to bring peace and quiet to the world. 

In 1820 Mirza AH Mohammed was born, and is 
known as the Bab or Gate. In May, 1844, he pro- 
claimed himself the "manifestation" of the promised 
Imam. This claim led to violent persecution by cer- 
tain Mohammedan sects and he was executed July 
9, 1850, and on September 15, 1852, twenty-eight of 
his more prominent followers suffered a like fate. 
In 1893, as a result of certain discussions that arose 
in connection with the Parliament of Religions in 
Chicago, there was a schism among the Babis, into 
Bahais and Ezelis. These two sects agree on the 
main points of doctrine: 

» God is one, eternal, and incomprehensible; He 
spoke to the world through Moses, Christ, Mo- 
hammed, and the Bab. 

Babism claims to be the latest and therefore the 
best religion and that it is destined to become uni- 
versal, promote the unification of mankind, and bring 
peace to the earth. 

There is nothing original in the system, and every 
doctrine that has any merit is copied either from 
Mohammedanism or Christianity. They claim that 
their leader Baha supersedes the Christ of the New 
Testament. They deny the divinity of Christ and 

322 



MINOR RELIGIONS 

affirm the divinity of Baha. The whole Bahai move- 
ment is in fact a counterfeit of the Messiahship of 
Christ, and if it is accepted the interpretation of the 
death of Christ as set forth in the New Testament 
must be rejected. 

The Bab has traveled extensively in the United 
States and has followers in Chicago, Wisconsin, New 
York, San Francisco, and many other places. His 
followers are usually from Christian churches and 
made up of the unreliable, emotional, and visionary 
element that is captivated by new fads and cults. 

SiKHISM 

In order to understand Sikhism it is necessary to 
know something of the religious ideas of India before 
it made its appearance. Nature worship was the 
prevailing religion of early India. A period of philo- 
sophical speculation then began which is of the most 
interesting character, the ultimate result of which 
was the conclusion that the entire universe and all 
its varied phenomena were but manifestations of 
one eternal self, the only reality. The highest knowl- 
edge was the recognition of the absolute oneness of 
God and Nature. This system is known as Vedanta 
Philosophy. It swept away a crowd of subordinate 
deities. 

When the Mohammedans came into the Punjab, 
the Persian doctrine known as Sufism was introduced 
and was only the Vedanta Philosophy with a Persian 
setting. In 1350 Ramanand began preaching the 
godship of heroism under the name of an ancient 
leader, Rama. Krishna, a war king of Mathura, 

323 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

also received divine honor, and to the present time 
Rama and Krishna are the two great deified names 
among the orthodox Hindus. 

In 1469 Nanak was born in Lahore, who became 
a devout and enthusiastic teacher. His teaching 
may be reduced to a single formula — the Unity of 
God and the Brotherhood of Man. To him God was 
invisible, self-existent, timeless, and all-pervading. 
This conception abrogated all petty distinctions of 
creeds, sects, dogmas, and ceremonies. He taught 
the equality of all men before God, and denied all 
class and caste distinctions. His creed was a mix- 
ture of the best from Islam, Buddhism, and Hindu- 
ism, with some Christian ideas. He held that Nir- 
vana was the highest reward of virtue. He taught 
that each soul was an immortal ray of light from the 
Supreme. The ideas as here set forth that the indi- 
vidual soul is a part of the Divine or Universal Soul, 
is the Vedanta doctrine that God is Nature. This 
essential doctrine of the Unity is impressed on the 
mind of every Sikh by the figure one (1) being pre- 
fixed to every book, section, chapter, and at the 
beginning of every document and letter. This idea 
agrees also with Persian Sufism. 

The impurity in man is accounted for by what is 
called Maya or Delusion. Maya deludes people into 
egoism that leads to the notion that there can be 
existence apart from the Divine, and thus prevents 
the pure soul from freeing itself from matter, thus 
making transmigration necessary. The belief in 
metempsychosis is, therefore, the necessary comple- 
ment of pantheism and is essential to the creed of a 
Hindu, a Buddhist, and a Sufi. Nanak came to de- 

324 



MINOR RELIGIONS 

spise wealth except as a means of relieving the wants 
of others. He gave to the poor all that came into his 
possession save enough for the bare necessities of 
life. He became so infatuated with this idea that 
he gave away what did not belong to him. The 
founder of Sikhism died in 1538 and left a reputation 
of being an amiable, modest, prudent, and earnest 
man. 

At Amritsar stands the far-famed Golden Temple 
of the Sikhs, built by Ranjit Singh. This temple 
stands in the center of a water- tank called 'The 
Pool of Immortality." It is covered with gold leaf. 
Sikhs do not observe caste, but in some ways are 
not easily distinguished from Hindus. They are a 
military order and the best material for the army. 
Their sacred book is the ''Granth." They meet 
once a week for prayer and conduct the service much 
as Protestants do. They number about one million, 
two hundred and fifty thousand. 

SUFISM 

This name is probably derived from the Greek 
word "Sophos," meaning wisdom, and refers to the 
wise men or seekers after the divine wisdom of Islam. 
It is related that the great philosopher Avicenna once 
met the mystic Abu Said, and when they parted the 
former said, "What I know, he sees," and the latter 
said, "What I see, he knows." They were alike 
sincere, but one was led by reason and the other by 
love, and yet they reached the same goal. 

Sufism is a system of mysticism, and as such its 
character is half religious and half philOvSOphical. Its 
home is in Persia. In many respects it resembles 

325 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

Islam. Though found far East, it is not of Aryan 
origin. It is sometimes referred to as pantheistic 
Unitarianism. Its main characteristic is a renunci- 
ation of worldly objects, a passionate longing for a 
closer communion with God, and universal tolerance. 
The sources of Sufism are: the sayings of the 
mystics of Islam; the Platonic philosophy of Mo- 
hammedan quietists; the poems and lyric rhapsodies 
of the Sufi poets, and the teachings of contemporary 
representatives of the system. They sought peace of 
soul by renouncing the world, fame, and wealth. 
Sufism, more properly speaking, is idealistic panthe- 
ism, in which everything speaks of God. He is 
everywhere and in everything. The object of Suf- 
ism is to find the cause of pain and cure it, and this 
is regarded as the highest achievement of philosophy. 
The remedy is to renounce self and escape into Gocf, 
through many transmigrations. 

Jainism 

Jainism is closely akin to Buddhism. It is a cult 
for the worship of "The Victorious Ones," that is, 
persons who by self-discipline have triumphed over 
their passions and attained perfection. It shows 
great regard for life even in its lowest form. The 
devout wear gauze masks to prevent taking life of 
insects by swallowing them, and sweep the path 
before them lest they destroy life by trampling upon 
it. They maintain hospitals for animals of all kinds. 
They number about one million, five hundred thou- 
sand adherents, who are found mostly in and around 
Bombay, 

326 



MINOR RELIGIONS 

Fetishism 

Max Miiller said: "Fetishism is a decided cor- 
ruption of an earlier and simpler religion." The 
word fetish is from "fetisso," a charm. "A fetish is 
any material thing reverenced on account of a sup- 
posed supernatural influence proceeding from it." 
The savage feels his dependence and seeks to dis- 
cover the forces which hold him in their power. In 
this struggle for light and help he is limited by his 
very surroundings. When we see him looking at a 
stone or crooked stick and attributing to it divine 
power and imploring it for help, we should remember 
his limiting surroundings and not only refrain from 
ridicule, but extend to him our sympathy and help. 
He may have fetishes of many kinds, for he is in 
different parts of the world and is, therefore, sur- 
rounded by many and varying objects. The object 
that is a fetish one day is discarded and despised the 
next day, simply because it does not answer the 
worshiper's childish prayer. These children of 
nature often whip, pound, and punish the object of 
worship and then reinstate it in their affections, 
hoping it has learned its lesson and will then do better 
by them. 

This idea in one form or another has made its 
appearance in nearly every part of the world. The 
"Black Stone" of Ephesus, the "Kaaba" of Mecca, 
the "Black Christ" of the Philippines, and the 
"Hoodoo" of the Negro are all a part of the same 
thing. Did not Xerxes order three hundred lashes 
to be administered to the Hellespont because it had 
broken up his bridges? Many are the things to which 
people have attributed good or bad luck, and these 

327 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

things are fetishes. It is not proper to speak of 
Fetishism as a reHgion, and yet it has in it a religious 
element. It shows a faith in the unseen which ap- 
proaches Schleiermacher's "God conscious idea." 
The fetish worshiper believes in immortality, and 
yet his vision is so circumscribed that the everlasting 
future means but little to him. The system, if sys- 
tem we may call it, is better than pantheism, ma- 
terialism, or agnosticism. We may call the fetish a 
"mascot," but it nevertheless takes the place of a 
god, but to the question, "What must I do to be 
saved?" it has no answer. 

Theosophy 

Theosophy, or the "Wisdom of God," is of all 
cults the most presumptuous in its claims, which 
are nothing less than the assertion that in it is all 
the truth of science and religion. Theosophlsts claim 
that their system is a reproduction of the ancient 
World-Religon, and that the Mahatmas or perfect 
men have made this revelation through the Theoso- 
phists, who declare it to be the last word of possible 
human knowledge. These wise men are said to have 
their habitat in Tibet, but as to just where it is no 
one knows, as they have never been seen by mortal 
man. Madame Blavatsky says: "We call them 
Masters because they are our teachers and because 
from them we have derived all the Theosophical 
truths, however inadequately some of us have ex- 
pressed them and others understood them." 

The Mahatmas reject the idea of a personal God; 
teach that one infinite and unknowable Essence 
exists from all eternity; that prayer has only a re- 

328 



MINOR RELIGIONS 

flective influence; that the universe is pantheistic; 
that matter is an illusion. Madame Blavatsky 
taught that everything in the universe has a con- 
sciousness — stones, sticks, and weeds are no excep- 
tion. "There is no difference between the lives of 
minerals, plants, animals, and man." "A thought is 
a material thing created by the mind." The cos- 
mology of the Mahatmas is interesting, as it tells of 
the sinking of the Atlantis, which occupied 11,466 
years in disappearing. The submergence of the 
continent of Lemuria, which once stretched from the 
Indian Ocean to Australia, required 700,000 years. 
These wise men teach that the history of man began 
not less than 18,000,000 years ago, and that the 
Manvantara period is 311,040,000,000,000 years. 
Mrs. Besant says: "This wonderful teaching is the 
inevitable outcome of the doctrine of the One Uni- 
versal Spirit common to all humanity, the reincarna- 
tion and Karma." 

It is interesting to know something of the people 
who have received the revelations from the Mahat- 
mas and translated them into modern theosophy and 
handed them on to posterity. The leading spirit was 
Madame H. B. Blavatsky, a Russian woman of 
doubtful character who made her appearance in New 
York City about 1875 as a spiritualist. Her attempts 
to deceive the people and get money under false pre- 
tense led to her exposure and flight to London, where 
she had a similar experience, exposure, and flight. 
We next hear of her traveling in the Orient with 
H. S. Olcott. They made headquarters at Adyar, 
India, until they were exposed by the Society for 
Psychical Research. The evidence of fraud and 

329 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

lying, to say nothing of other things, was overwhelm- 
ing. Mrs. Besant, with headquarters at Benares, 
India, is head of the Oriental Theosophists, and 
Madame Tingley, who heads the American Theoso- 
phists, has her headquarters at Point Loma, Cali- 
fornia. The writer has been interested in this move- 
ment since the days of Madame Blavatsky, and in 
studying it has visited the headquarters at Benares 
and Point Loma. The methods are much the same 
in both places. People are hypnotized or mesmerized 
and turn over money and property, which often leads 
to lawsuits and the leaving of the home by the dis- 
satisfied people. But others yield to the allurements 
and the thing is repeated. The majority of people in 
both communities, so far as I can judge, regard the 
places as centers of immorality, lying, and dishonesty. 
Mrs. Besant said: "If there are no Mahatmas 
then the theosophical society is an absurdity." 
"When Madame Blavatsky wrote, Tibet was a land 
of mystery and she felt safe in locating her copart- 
ners, with their unparalleled literary accumulations, 
in that country. But history has lifted the veil, and 
the Mahatmas have proven a bigger hoax than any- 
thing found in Munchausen." 

New Thought 

What is called "New Thought" is not new in 
thought, and what of it is "new" has but little thought 
in it. It is closely akin to Christian Science and 
originated from the teachings of P. P. Quimby of 
Christian Science fame. It was influenced largely 
by the teaching of R. W. Emerson and others of his 
school. It has no Bible save the Old and New Testa- 

330 



MINOR RELIGIONS 

ments. It teaches that all life is one, that the visible 
universe is a material, real expression of God's handi- 
work. It insists on freedom of thought and the right 
of every individual to live out his life in his own way. 
It is friendly to Theosophy, Spiritualism, and Chris- 
tian Science. It is not rigidly organized, choosing 
rather to influence all organizations and to gain their 
favor by recognizing the good everywhere. It is 
very unjust in holding the Church responsible for the 
crimes that are in the world at this time. 

Like all similar cults, it denies the divinity of 
Christ and the inspiration of the Bible. It recognizes 
Him as a good Man and as being inspired as other 
good men are inspired. The Bible is inspired as are 
all other good books, differing only in degree and not 
in kind. It teaches the doctrine of reincarnation and 
many other ideas imported from Vedanta philosophy. 
It emphasizes with good effect the idea that man has 
the power to make himself what he wills, but carries 
the idea to absurd conclusions. It teaches that man 
is God incarnate, and that man can become God and 
be absorbed into the Infinite. This conclusion gets 
them into difficulties when they attempt to discuss 
sin, suffering, and death. When trying to extricate 
themselves, they offer solutions as absurd as any- 
thing in Christian Science, Theosophy, or Spiritual- 
ism. It lays great stress on the subconscious mind, 
defining telepathy as the natural communication be- 
tween two subconscious minds. The ideas in the 
teachings of New Thought that are true and helpful 
are found in Christianity in clearer setting and safer 
surroundings and without the chaff and absurdities 
with which it is here obscured. 

331 



THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 

RUSSELLISM OR MiLLENNIAL-DaWNISM 

Russellism or Millennial-Dawnism has had a re- 
markable rise and a tragic culmination. At the 
opening of the present century a man by the name 
of Charles T. Russell was attracting attention in and 
around Pittsburgh by his discussion of religious sub- 
jects, especially subjects of a teleological nature. He 
showed great familiarity with the Bible, was fluent 
in speech, and possessed unusual platform ability. 
At first he was received kindly by the churches and 
Christian people. He was so independent in methods 
that he refused all church affiliation and refused to 
recognize what Christians regarded orthodox stand- 
ards. He was equally independent as to his moral 
standards. It soon became apparent that he was an 
unsafe leader. His fame spread with great rapidity, 
and the literature that went out from his publishing 
house was voluminous and deceptive. He taught 
"Soul Sleep," "The Millennium was to come in 
1914," universal salvation as a result of "Second 
probation." He claimed divine illumination in ex- 
plaining God's plan in building the Pyramid of 
Cheops. 

He denounced the missionary work of the churches 
and attempted to expose it on a large scale, but he 
was trapped by a secular paper which put wide- 
awake reporters on his track, who proved that he 
was not where he said he was, and that his statements 
were wholly false. Fifteen hundred papers printed 
his addresses and he had admirers everywhere. His 
use of money was not only lavish but prodigal. Mr. 
Russell died suddenly while the United States Gov- 

332 



MINOR RELIGIONS 

ernment was investigating his propaganda, on the 
supposition that he and the people who were asso- 
ciated with him were agents of the German Govern- 
ment. After much investigation the Government 
pronounced "Russellism" German propaganda, closed 
the publishing houses, and sent the head men to the 
penitentiary. Many of the Russellites are good, 
loyal people who were duped by designing scoundrels 
who were in the pay of Germany. 



333 



RELIGIONS IN COMPARISON 



CHAPTER XXV 

Christianity 

JESUS, the Founder of Christianity, came to 
"save His people from their sins." Other re- 
ligious founders have claimed to be divine, but 
Christ only proved His claim. 

The Talmud contains more than forty references 
to Christ and His miracles. 

Tacitus, Pliny, and other secular writers make 
frequent references to His person, His miracles, and 
His followers. 

The Pauline epistles teach the virgin birth, the 
miracles, and the resurrection of Christ. There is no 
denying the fact that Jesus Christ lived on this 
earth some 2,000 years ago, and that His divine 
energizing force gave existence to Christianity. 

The facts concerning Christianity are as trust- 
worthy as any facts in nature or science. The man 
who could have conceived or invented the life and 
character of Christ would be as marvelous as Christ 
Himself. His life was divinely human. He was 
ready and willing to die for the principles for which 
He stood. Bad men would not have written the Gos- 
pel story, for they would thereby condemn them- 
selves. Good men would not have written a false 
account. Idealists could not have written it, for 
they had no pattern. Reason forces us to accept 
the Gospel narrative as a true account. 

The life of Jesus was His own contribution to 

337 



\ 



RELIGIONS IN COMPARISON 

man's knowledge of God. He organized Chris- 
tianity around the Fatherhood of God and the 
brotherhood of man. In an age rife with contro- 
versy and speculation He did not argue, but acted 
on the assumption that each individual had in his 
own breast the evidence of the truth of the Gospel 
teaching. 

No other teacher is essential to his system, but 
without Christ Christianity collapses. No wonder 
that Napoleon in his hours of meditation on St. 
Helena uttered that immortal tribute to the tran- 
scendant personality of Christ. 

Wendell Phillips said: "When we see what 
Christianity has done for the world, it is simply the 
commentary of eighteen centuries on the Gospels. 
The Jewish Boy towers so high above Newton and 
Shakespeare that they seem but ripples on the sur- 
face of the world." The study of the religious prob- 
lem by comparing and contrasting Christianity with 
other religions is not irreverent. 

The opposition to such comparison is as apt to 
originate in ignorance as in piety. The claims of 
Christianity have been comprehensive and both in- 
clusive and exclusive. "Comprehensive," for it 
claims universal sway and acceptance; "inclusive," 
in that it embraces all that is true and elevating in 
other religions; "exclusive," for it repudiates all that 
does not conform to its standard. Christianity by 
its very nature must be all that it claims to be or it 
is nothing. 

The early Christians refused to put a statue of 
their Lord in the Pantheon. There are people who 
claim that this attitude is narrow, and that Chris- 

338 



CHRISTIANITY 

tianity should regard all other religions as equals. 
This view represents the secular press and outsiders. 
Many non-Christians have seen the absurdity of 
such protests. 

Christianity comes with a new idea — an Idea 
never suggested by any other religion — conversion — 
the making of the tree right in order to have right 
fruit, or the making of the heart right In order to 
have a right life. No other religion has a remedy 
for the sins and heartaches of humanity. 

The founders of other religions and their systems 
can be explained by recognizing them as the product 
of the age in which they made their appearance, but 
not so with Christ and Christianity. They are In- 
explicable on any supposition other than that of 
their divine origin. A master of composite art is 
said to have taken eight hundred and thirty pictures 
of Queen Catharine and combined all their excellen- 
cies in one perfect portrait. In Christ and Chris- 
tianity we have combined all the excellencies of all 
the religious faiths of all the ages. 

Christianity is more nearly In harmony with the 
Innate idea of Monotheism and Immortality than is 
any other religious system. It Is unique in that it 
seeks salvation by external means and Internal ex- 
perience. It recognizes man as so bound by sin 
that he cannot extricate himself, while other re- 
ligions seek salvation through reformation or deny 
its possibility. Christianity is not a dogma or a set 
of dry maxims, but a living force in the world. 

It has the highest moral ideals of any religious 
system, and It alone of all the religions of earth ele- 
vates individuals and nations. It is adapted to all 

339 



RELIGIONS IN COMPARISON 

peoples, of all nationalities, high and low, rich and 
poor, ignorant and learned, and is the only key that 
unlocks the mysteries of life and the world. It is 
not strange that such a religion makes a strong 
appeal to the intellectual classes. There are mys- 
teries, but every step towards Christ takes the seeker 
nearer to the death of doubt. 

The sacred books of other religions are explicable 
as human productions, but not so with the Bible — 
sixty-six books, by thirty-six writers, in different 
languages, during a period of 1,600 years, and yet 
perfect harmony and oneness of purpose. 

No one could accuse Lecky of being prejudiced in 
favor of Christianity, but he says: "It has been re- 
served for Christianity to present to the world an 
ideal character which, through all the changes of 
eighteen centuries, has filled the hearts of men with 
an impassioned love; has shown itself capable of 
acting on all ages, nations, temperaments, and con- 
ditions; has not only been the highest pattern of 
virtue, but the highest incentive to its practice, and 
has exercised so deep an influence that it may be 
truly said that this simple record of three short years 
of active life has done more to regenerate and soften 
mankind than all the disquisitions of philosophers 
and all the exhortations of moralists." 

The ancient Simeon was right in seeing in Christ 
the standard by which men and nations rise or fall 
(Luke ii, 34). This truth was never so apparent as 
to-day. England is constantly fortifying Gibraltar 
because India is beyond. All of Christianity hinges 
on or revolves around Christ. Heathenism was the 

340 



CHRISTIANITY 

seeking religion; Judaism, the hoping religion; Chris- 
tianity is the realization of that for which heathenism 
sought and Judaism hoped. Coleridge in his philos- 
ophy of Christianity suggested just one proof, "Try 
it for yourself." When a man is opposed to Chris- 
tianity it is because it is opposed to him. 



341 



A BRIEF COMPARISON 

OF THE 

Christian and Non-Christian Religions 

ARRANGED BY 

MARTIN J. VAN DER LINDEN 

ASSISTED BY 

Agnes B. Churchill, Birdie L. Hasley, Clara Helwig, Ovidia Hensing, John A. 

Hughes, Sidney B. Lewis, Marjorie D. Newton, Geraldine M. Pugh, Iva 

B. Palmer, Francis C. Rosecrance, Loraine L. Vickery, Edith K. 

Wood, Marjorie G. Whiting, Edna M. Youtz and Helen I. 

Risdon, members of the Seminar in Comparative 

Religion, Lawrence College, 1918-1919. 



Religions 



Christian: Jesus; born in Bethlehem; 5 B. C. 
Mohammedanism: Mohammed, born in Mecca; 570 A. D., died 

632 A. D. 
Brahmanism: Brahmans, a priestly caste, founded in earliest 

days of the Aryan race in India. 
Buddhism: Founded by Gautama, a north-Indian prince, about 

560 B. C. He afterward assumed the name Buddha. 
Confucianism: Founded by Confucius; born in Shantung, 

China, 551 B. C. 
Egyptian Religion: Shrouded in the obscurity of ancient 

Egyptian history. 
Parseeism: The dates given for the origin vary from 6350 B. C, 

to the 7th century B. C. The latter is probably most 

authentic. The modern Parsees are followers of Zoroaster. 

They came to India in 698 A. D., from which date they 

reckon time. 
Shintoism: The belief antedates its name. The name, place, 

and founder are unknown. 
Taoism: Founded by Lao-tsze, who was born about 604 B. C, 

in Honan Province, China. 
Teutonic Religion: The Goths were converted in the 4th 

century, being the first Teutons to be converted. Their 

home was in Southern Russia in the plains of the Black Sea. 
Mormonism: Founded by Joseph Smith, Jr., who published 

the Book of Mormon at Manchester, N. Y., in 1830. 
Theosophy: Founded in New York City in 1875 by Mme. 

H. P. Blavatsky, under the name of the Theosophical So- 
ciety. Coadjutors were Col. H. S. Olcott and W. Q. Judge. 

HISTORY 

Christianity: Began in Jerusalem, Palestine. Later its center 
changed to Antioch, then to Alexandria, then to Rome and 
Constantinople. Since then it has gradually spread through, 
out the civilized world, and now predominates both in 
influence and numbers. 

345 



A BRIEF COMPARISON 

Mohammedanism: Began in the 7th century A. D., and early 
spread through Abyssinia. Later it spread through Arabia, 
Palestine, Northern Egypt, Turkey, and was stopped only 
in time by Rome. To-day, in addition to the above lands, 
its followers are found in vast numbers in Russia, India, 
China, and Persia. It is without exception Christianity's 
most bitter enemy. 

Brahmanism: A growth out of Aryan Vedism that came to 
dominate all classes in India. Buddhism threatened to 
supplant it, but was itself absorbed by Brahmanism, re- 
sulting in the present Hinduism. 

Buddhism: Founded by Gautama, an Indian prince dissatisfied 
by the religious teachings of his day, especially Brahmanism. 
Finally the two great religions compromised, leaving Hin- 
duism dominant. 

Confucianism: The founder, Confucius, protested against the 
iniquity of his day, and gradually gained followers, until 
all China was swayed by his teachings. All literature was 
burned in 200 B. C, but the books of Confucius were re- 
written. The religion still sways China. 

Egyptian Religion: In prehistoric days each tribe had its 
own religion; worshiped various animals, each tribe having 
its sacred animal. With the coming of the first dynasty, a 
state religion began to grow up out of the ancient tribal 
rites and cults. The Egyptians are famed for their mar- 
velous pyramids, obelisks, and huge carv^ings, such as the 
Sphinx. 

Parseeism: Zoroaster was born in Afghanistan and later lived 
in Persia, from whence his followers were driven by Mo- 
hammedan persecution. The Zoroastrians then went to 
India. There they were persecuted by the Hindus until a 
compromise was effected. 

Shintoism: Originally consisted of ancestral worship. Its 
origin, place, and founder are shrouded in mystery. It was 
overthrown by Buddhism, but again became the state 
religion of Japan in 1868. "Since then it has been dis- 
established, and is now only a cult advocating patriotism." 

Taoism: A very ancient religion, the founder of which ante- 
dated Confucius by half a century. The religion rapidly 

346 



RELIGIONS 

degenerated until now it is only demon worship. Buddhism 
became its rival in China in A. D. 65. 

Teutonic Religion: The first Teutons to accept conversion 
were the Goths of the Black Sea Region in the 4th century. 
It was later accepted by the people of Germany, Denmark, 
Norway, Sweden, Russia, and some Italians and Greeks. 
The people were fair-haired barbarians, fond of war, and 
admirers of strength. They were worshipers of gods. 

Mormonism: Founded in 1830 by Joseph Smith, Jr., in Man- 
chester, N. Y. Later headquarters were moved to Nauvoo, 
111., in 1842. A hierarchy of twelve apostles was instituted 
in 1835. While early Mornomism was against polygamy, 
later it became very prevalent. Forced out of Nauvoo in 
1856, after rioting. Concentrated in Salt Lake City, Utah, 
since 1848. Utah was admitted to the Union in 1896, after 
polygamy was done away with. 

Theosophy: Founded in New York City in 1875 by Mme. 
Blavatsky, a spiritualist imbued with Brahman mysticism. 
Her assistants were Col. Olcott and W. Q. Judge, who 
brought on a schism after her death. Olcott was later 
succeeded by Mrs. Besant, and Judge by Mrs. Tingley, 
with headquarters at Pt. Loma, Cal. 

FOLLOWERS 

Christianity: Protestant, 166,063,500; Roman Catholic, 

272,638,500; Eastern Churches, 120,157,000. Total, 558,- 

859,000. 
Mohammedanism: Turkey, 18,000,000; Russia, 14,000,000; 

India, 62,000,000; China, 33,000,000; Persia, 9,000,000; 

Africa, 50,000,000. Total, about 200,000,000. 
Brahmanism: As Brahmanism is merged with Hinduism, its 

followers are listed in the latter religion, which numbers 

about 209,600,000. 
Buddhism: Africa, 11,000; North America, 5,000; Asia, 137,- 

900,000; Australasia, 4,000; Oceanica, 15,000. Total, 

about 137,935,000. 
Confucianism: It is impossible to separate the Confucianists 

from the Buddhists and Taoists, as most Chinese belong to 

347 



A BRIEF COMPARISON 

all three religions. Confucianists and Taoists are estimated 
as numbering 291,816,000. 

Egyptian Religion: Followers consist of all those living in 
the Nile Valley. 

Parseeism; About 100,000, of which 92,000 are in India. No 
missionary work done by Parsees. 

Shintoism: No definite membership figures. Estimated by 
"The Blue Book of Missions" as 24,900,000, confined to 
Japan. 

Taoism: Nearly all Chinese are Taoists, as well as Buddhists 
and Confucianists. 

Teutonic Religion: Includes Greeks, Italians, Celts, Germans, 
Slavs, Celts, and Albanians. 

Mormonism: Approximately 500,000. 

Theosophy: No definite information obtainable. 

GODS 

Christianity: Jesus Christ, omnipotent, omniscient, and om- 
nipresent; merciful, kind, and just. 

Mohammedanism: The Christian God is merely one of the 
prophets, inferior in rank to Mohammed. He is supposed 
to be lacking in mercy and love and sympathy. 

Brahmanism: Brahm, who created the world; Vishnu, the pre- 
server of the world; and Siva, the destroyer. Also many 
subsidiary gods. 

Buddhism: Buddha said there was no power greater than he. 
As he left no other god, his followers worship him. Also 
many lesser deities. 

Confucianism: Heaven, spirits, the sun and moon, stars, 
wind, clouds, and the spirits of departed ancestors are rep- 
resented by images which are worshiped. 

Egyptian Religion: In the early stages each tribe had its own 
patron god, but as the religion gradually came to be the 
state religion, the gods of the most powerful tribes were 
adopted by all. Among the gods were Osiris, god of the 
underworld; his sister- wife, Isis; Horus, god of light; and 
Set, god of darkness. 

348 



RELIGIONS 

Parseeism: Belief is in God, the Father of all. They also 
reverence fire, the symbol of divinity, and gods of light 
and darkness. 

Shintoism: One supreme god who is worshiped through his 
inferior deities. The goddess of the sun is the chief deity, 
from whom the Japanese imperial family is descended. 
Gods number 14,000. 

Taoism : Lao-tsze and Tsaichin, the god of wealth, and Shangte 
are chief gods. Others are dragons, stars, serpents, tigers, 
etc. 

Teutonic Religion: Dyans, the sky, was their god. Later 
other gods were worshiped: Thor and Oden, Tyr, Baldur, 
Friggal, and many others. 

MoRMONiSM: The Mormons believe in a material god, per- 
sonal and anthropomorphic; that is, having human form 
and attributes. They believe in Jesus Christ. 

Theosophy: Theosophists reject the idea of a personal God — 
of God as the highest being. They employ the terms 
"Universal Principle" and "Absolute" for the name of 
God. "God is Life." 

MAN 
Christianity: The image of Jesus Christ, originally sinless, 

but having sinned, and seeking to be restored to the blame- 
less life. 
Mohammedanism: Man was created by God from a lump of 

clay; is God's absolute slave, whose supreme purpose is to 

exterminate infidels. 
Brahmanism: Man is transmigratory ; his soul is part of the 

universal spirit, which will be reabsorbed into Brahm by 

transmigration. 
Buddhism: Man consists of two essentials — matter and spirit. 

Matter is transient and the spirit is transmigratory. 
Confucianism: All men are born good, but must master their 

own destinies. 
Egyptian Religion: Man is immortal and transmigratory. 
Parseeism: Man has two intellects, as he has two different 

lives, one mental and the other physical. He has a good 

and a bad nature, each of which constantly craves for 

gratification. 

349 



A BRIEF COMPARISON 

Shintoism: All men are descended from the Sun goddess, the 
emperor being the favored descendant, and worthy of wor- 
ship. Man's soul is undefiled, but the body is subject to 
defilement and consequent punishment. 

Taoism: Man is by nature good. The human soul is essentially 
good and may become immortal through physical disci- 
pline. Man is in continuous struggle against demons. 

Teutonic Religion: The Teutons loved physical strength. 
The old, sick, and infirm were deemed a hindrance and 
were killed. Kings and heroes were often worshiped after 
death. 

Mormonism: Man is woman's superior, mentally and phys- 
ically, and is therefore supreme in the state and in the 
home. 

Theosophy: Man is essentially good, and only the exceptional 
criminal fails of salvation in the end. 

SIN 

Christianity: Transgression of the divine law. 

Mohammedanism: Violation of known laws of God. Ignorance 
of the law excuses violation, which in that case, is not sin. 
Sin is not inherited from Adam. 

Brahmanism: Sin is an illusion; man is part of God, and there- 
fore not responsible for his actions. Moral sin is not rec- 
ognized, but to touch a person of another caste is the un- 
pardonable sin. 

Buddhism: Sin is "desire." To be free from it, it is necessary 
to lose oneself in meditation and become absorbed in Buddha 
in Nirvana. Precepts: Do not kill, steal, commit adultery, 
tell lies, or drink intoxicants. 

Confucianism: Confucius did not consider man's responsi- 
bility to God, and therefore did not consider man a sinner 
against divinity or divine law. 

Egyptian Religion: Belief was that sin was punished by the 
destruction of the soul. Murder, forgery, counterfeiting, 
unchastity, were punishable by law. 

Parseeism: The moral standard is very high, second only to 
Christianity. Sin has its origin in the demoniac world, 
and must be avoided and repented. 

350 



RELIGIONS 

Shintoism: The noblest form of nature- and hero-worship. 
Moral obligation is not taught, but immorality is dis- 
couraged. 

Taoism: Man's soul is essentially good, as it is produced by 
Tao. Sin consists of displeasing the gods rather than in 
moral wrong-doing. 

Teutonic Religion: The Teutons knew little of our idea of 
sin. Profanation of temples and carrying arms in temples 
were considered great sins. 

Mormonism: Ideas of sin correspond quite generally with those 
of Christianity, except that polygamy was not considered 
immoral. The Mormons, however, failed to live up to their 
ideas of morality. 

Theosophy: The Theosophists of Christian lands have quite 
high ideals, and their belief as to sin corresponds generally 
to that of Christianity. Morality is encouraged. 

SALVATION 

Christianity: Salvation is attained through faith in God and 
obedience to His commandments. 

Mohammedanism: Belief is in predestination and fatalism. 
Prayer, giving, and defense of the faith are aids. No in- 
carnation. 

Brahmanism: Salvation is the union of the soul with Brahm, 
gained through transmigration, duration of which is 
shortened by strict adherence to the laws of Brahmanism. 

Buddhism: Only way to overcome evil is by ceasing to exist. 
Inward culture, through practice of the virtues, will save. 

Confucianism: "Man is master of his own destiny," and is 
capable of purifying himself without divine help. 

Egyptian Religion: Early belief was that only the kings went 
to heaven, while the common folk existed in an under- 
ground world. Gradually the idea changed to the belief 
that any good man could attain to heaven. 

Parseeism: Salvation is attained by resisting evil, praying 
daily, wearing the "sacred shirt," etc. After death Parsees 
cross the abyss on a razor which is flattened for the good, 
but the sharp edge of which is turned up for the bad. 

351 



A BRIEF COMPARISON 

Shintoism: Men are descended from the gods and are them- 
selves canonized, so salvation is unnecessary. 

Taoism : A man's future depends on his conduct in life. Prayers 
and gifts to the gods aid in securing peace for the soul. 

Teutonic Religion: The spirit of the dead was supposed to 
inhabit the grave. The departed was supposed to have 
gone on a long journey. The ideas of salvation are rather 
indefinite. 

Mormonism: No salvation except through a tabernacle. "The 
faithful shall attain eternal life and their family relations 
will be perpetuated." Three separate resurrections of the 
dead, the last to be universal. 

Theosophy: Only the exceptional criminal fails to attain to 
salvation. 

HEAVEN 
Christianity: Life everlasting in the presence of God. 
Mohammedanism: A place of purely sensual enjoyment for 

none but Mohammedans. Eternal rest, eating, and drink- 
ing, but never satisfaction. 
Brahmanism: Those who have been faithful to Brahm's laws 

and the laws of their castes are absorbed into Brahm at 

death. 
Buddhism: Nirvana is the heaven of Buddha. It is attained 

by absorption into Buddha through contemplation, and is 

full of sensuous pleasure. 
Confucianism: Man's reward for good comes in this world; 

no reckoning in the hereafter. 
Egyptian Religion: A material heaven, believed to be in the 

sky. Life in heaven is simply a continuance of earthly life. 
Parseeism: After lingering three days after death, the soul 

crosses the abyss and is admitted to the "House of Hymns," 

where there is constant singing and companionship with 

saints. 
Shintoism: Heaven is a place of reward for heroes. No fully 

developed theology due to early absorption by Buddhism. 
Taoism: An etherealized state of perfection. The way to 

heaven is difficult, due to hindrance by the spirits and gods, 

who must be bribed. 

352 



RELIGIONS 

Teutonic Religion: No definite heaven. Souls were thought 
to dwell in the air, near the graves of the bodies. 

Mormonism: Heaven is the kingdom of God, having three 
grades: (1) Celestial Glory — those with Christ: (2) Ter- 
restrial Glory — those receiving the presence of the Son; 
(3) Telestial Glory — those purified by the fires of hell. 

Theosophy: A specially guarded mental plane from which all 
pain, sorrow, and evil are excluded. Not permanent; lasts 
ten to fifteen centuries, and is called Devachan. There is 
also a purgatory, Kamaloka. 

HELL 

Christianity: "Everlasting destruction from the presence of 

the Lord, and from the glory of His power" (2 Thess. 1: 9). 
Mohammedanism: Greatly similar to the purgatory of the 

Roman Catholics. There are seven chambers of Hell, all 

of inexpressible pain. 
Brahmanism: No hell for a Brahman. Hell is for those who 

do not become Brahmans. 
Buddhism: Consists of the punishments meted out during the 

deaths and rebirths prior to absorption into Buddha. 
Confucianism: Confucius ignored all future punishment. 
Egyptian Religion: The soul of a sinner is eaten by a god, 

thus ending the immortality of the sinner. 
Parseeism: The Parsee hell is a place in the center of the 

earth where all demons will be cast at the end of 12,000 

years. The wicked, after death, cross into the place where 

they lament till the renovation of the world, when all 

creation will start anew. 
Shintoism: There is no hell, for punishment is all in this life. 

Man's soul cannot be defiled. 
Taoism: There are ten courts of purgatory where the wicked 

suffer torture. 
Teutonic Religion: A place called Hell, where went the souls 

of warriors to become the warriors of Odin. Does not 

seem to have any significance as a place of physical torture. 
Mormonism: "A very real hell, reserved for the unpardonable, 

irredeemable, and incorrigible — everlasting punishment, an 

eternal fire which is not quenched." 

353 



A BRIEF COMPARISON 

Theosophy: a place called Avichi — a long-drawn-out dream of 
bitter memories — a vivid consciousness of failure; periodical 
suffering, for the exceptional criminal only. 

IMMORTALITY 

Christianity: Man is immortal. Though the body perishes 
and falls to dust, the soul lives. 

Mohammedanism: Moslems of good faith will be resurrected 
and will be able to cross the bridge over hell (a hair from 
Mohammed's head) into Paradise. 

Brahmanism: The soul is transmigratory prior to absorption 
into Brahm after many series of lives. 

Buddhism: The soul is transmigratory. Absorption is non- 
existence. No separate existence of soul and body. 

Confucianism: Teaches "existence of the soul after death, but 
nothing of the character of that existence." — Dr. Legge. 

Egyptian Religion: The Egyptians believe in immortality of 
the soul. Each man has a "Ka," or spiritual double, that 
lives in the afterworld, as well as a soul which may be seen 
and which leaves the body after death. 

Parseeism: Parsees believe it is God's duty to restore all life 
which has fallen prey to death. There is a life hereafter. 

Shintoism: Belief is that ancestors' spirits watch over the 
descendants. 

Taoism: Taoists believe in transmigration. No definite ideas 
concerning immortality. There is a belief, however, that 
immortality can be attained by him who finds the "plant 
that gives immortality." 

Teutonic Religion: Teutons did not believe in immortality. 
Even the lives of the gods must come to an end in conflict 
with each other, and their home be destroyed by fire, after 
which a younger generation of gods would rule a better 
world. 

Mormonism: Eternal life for the faithful. Even family rela- 
tions are considered immortal and continued after death. 

Theosophy: The world is eternal. Theosophists are firm be- 
lievers in reincarnation (not animal). Reincarnation occurs 
once in 1,500 years. 

354 



RELIGIONS 

PRAYER 

Christianity: Offering up unto God our worthy desires, backed 
by faith in His power, and by confession of our sins and 
desire for forgiveness. 

Mohammedanism: Every Mohammedan must spread his 
prayer rug, kneel facing Mecca, and pray five times a day. 
Prayer is impersonal. 

Brahmanism: Prayers have a very prominent place in Brah- 
manism. They are senseless, but have attracted many 
followers. 

Buddhism: Prayers offered by means of prayer-flags or wheels 
turned by hand or by waterpower. Priests are paid for 
offering prayers. 

Confucianism: Prayer is a form and is not spiritual. Paper 
prayers are burned, and prayers are offered up to the dead 
for help. 

Egyptian Religion: The priests do all the praying for the 
people. 

Parseeism : Prayer is said every day while seated before a fire. 
Choice places for prayer are by the sea or facing the setting 
sun. 

Shintoism: Prayers are offered up to the gods in the temples 
dedicated to them. The worshiper must first bathe his 
hands and rinse his mouth with holy water. 

Taoism: Taoist worshipers kneel before the altars, bow their 
foreheads to the ground, and then offer prayer and money. 
The money seems to be considered more efficient than the 
prayer. 

Teutonic Religion: Prayers were thrown do^vn wishing- wells 
or hung on trees which were sacred. The Teutons had no 
idols, their ideas of worship being very lofty. 

Mormonism: The Mormon idea of prayer seems to correspond 
to the Christian idea. 

Theosophy: There is no prayer except in the sense of an in- 
ternal command. The conscious or unconscious statement 
of a wish or desire constitutes prayer. No other form of 
prayer, such as a supplication to the Almighty, is rec- 
ognized. 

355 



A BRIEF COMPARISON 

SACRED BOOK 

Christianity: Holy Bible, written in Hebrew and Greek. 

Mohammedanism: The "Koran," written in Arabic, contain- 
ing the teachings of Mohammed. No chronological order. 

Brahmanism: The "Vedas" were the earliest sacred writings: 
(1) Rig-Veda, (2) Sama-Veda, (3) Yajur-Veda, and (4) 
Atharva-Veda. 

Buddhism: The "Tripataka," written in Pali, a dead language, 
consists of Buddha's sermons and philosophy, 

Confucianism: The "Five Classics," and the "Four Books." 

Egyptian Religion: "The Book of the Dead." 

Parseeism: The "Zend Avesta." 

Shintoism: "Kojiki," "Nihonge," and "Engishike." 

Taoism: "Tao the King," by Lao-tsze, is a book of brevity, not 
much read to-day. "The Book of Rewards and Punish- 
ments" is a later Taoist book widely read. 

Teutonic Religion: The two "Eddas"— the "Elder Edda" 
and the "Younger Edda." They are composed of ancient 
poems and proverbs, handed down from generations. 

Mormonism: The "Book of Mormon," alleged to be a transla- 
tion of writings in Reformed Egyptian upon golden plates 
hidden some fourteen centuries ago, and found by Joseph 
Smith, Jr., through the aid of an angel, in 1827. Imitates 
the Bible in general style and make-up. 

Theosophy: "Isis Unveiled" and "The Secret Doctrine," by 
Mme. Blavatsky, discussing the tenets and doctrines of 
Theosophy. 

MORALITY 

Christianity: Strict morality required; immorality prevents 
attaining to heaven. 

Mohammedanism: Sensuality permitted and promised in the 
life to come. Cruelty and lust are disseminated by Mo- 
hammedanism. 

Brahmanism: Consider selves irresponsible in moral affairs. 
Temple prostitutes common. 

Buddhism: Early teachings were morally high, but the religion, 
instead of elevating India to its teachings, was lowered to 
the gross immorality of the Indians in general. 

356 



RELIGIONS 

Confucianism: Does not encourage cruelty or sensuality, but 
neither does it set any reward for morality. 

Egyptian Religion: Eg>^ptian morality was very high in many 
respects, as is shown by the development of a social con- 
science and a code of ethics. 

Parseeism: The Parsees have attained to a very high moral 
standard and adhere to it very closely. 

Shintoism: No definite moral code, but the followers discour- 
aged to some extent immorality and sensuality. 

Taoism: Very low standards, consistent with the worship of 
demons. Immorality, political corruption, and stealing are 
common. "A successful liar is honored." 

Teutonic Religion: The Teutons were unmoral rather than 
immoral. They were cruel, killed undesirable or weak 
members or children, fought feuds (duels are still common 
among German university students), and loved warfare. 

Mormonism: Polygamy removed all moral restraint from 
Mormons, and vice reigned supreme. Forced marriages 
and illegitimate children were common. The laws of the 
United States have caused regulations so that Mormon 
morals and standards have raised to a marked degree. 

Theosophy: Morality is encouraged as necessary to entrance 
to Devachan. The high aims of devout Theosphists must 
be respected, but their belief in occultism and mysticism 
lowers them greatly in the estimation of the civilized world. 

SACRIFICES 

Christianity: Jesus sacrificed Himself to save mankind. Sac- 
rifice of humans or animals, etc., is not a part of Chris- 
tianity. 

Mohammedanism: Animals are slain to commemorate the name 
of God in obedience. 

Brahmanism: Human sacrifice was once a part of the religion, 
but has disappeared. Sacrifice of animals is not permitted, 
as animals are reincarnated men. Fruits, etc., are offered 
as sacrifices. 

Buddhism: Considered by Buddha as an evil and not tolerated. 

Confucianism: Three grades of sacrifices: (1) the Great — to 
heaven, earth, great temples of ancestors, etc.; (2) the 

357 



A BRIEF COMPARISON 

Medium — to sun, moon, Confucius, and lesser gods; and 
(3) the Inferior — to statesmen, martyrs, etc. 

Egyptian Religion: Many animals, including gazelles, ante- 
lopes, wild goats, and bullocks, offered in sacrifice to the 
gods. 

Parseeism: Sandalwood and money are offered to the sun. 
The priests receive the sacrifices, bless them, and place 
them beside the fire. Nothing is ever thrown into the fire. 

Shintoism: Rice, lighted candles, etc., offered up to spirits of 
the departed. 

Taoism: Sacrifices play an important part in the Taoist house- 
hold. Death brings evil spirits, which must be propitiated 
by sacrifices, at which the Taoist priests, in red robes, 
officiate. 

Teutonic Religion: The most important part of Teutonic 
religion. Many different animals were used as sacrifices. 
Human sacrifices were commonly offered up to Odin, god 
of war, often whole defeated armies being sacrificed. 

Mormonism: Unknown among Mormons. 

Theosophy: Not a part of this religion. 

POLYGAMY 

Christianity: Not tolerated. ' 

Mohammedanism: Encourages and teaches polygamy. Mo- 
hammed himself practiced it. 

Brahmanism: Polygamy common among Brahmans. 

Buddhism: Those who are financially able may have plural 
wives or concubines. 

Confucianism: Polygamy is taken as a matter of course, for 
every mother is expected to give birth to a son. "Every 
mother who bears no son is a slave, while a mother with 
grown-up sons is a monarch." 

Egyptian Religion : No record is found of any signs of polyg- 
amy. Concubinage may have been permitted. 

Parseeism : Monogamy is the rule, though some of the wealthy 
are polygamists. Parsee family relations on the whole 
seem to be quite happy. 

Shintoism: Christianity has disestablished concubinage. Po- 
lygamy is now illegal in Japan. 

358 



RELIGIONS 

Taoism: Priests are allowed to marry. Polygamy Is governed 
by personal tastes. There are no rules or restrictions. 

Teutonic Religion: Largely practiced by wealthier Teutons. 
Plural wives were obtained by purchase or capture. 

Mormonism: Originally Mormonism forbade polygamy, but 
Joseph Smith, Jr., had a "revelation" granting permission 
to have plural wives. Men were encouraged to have several 
wives, and the practice was employed to cover up marital 
unfaithfulness, thus encouraging vice and licentiousness. 
Marriage came to be merely legalized vice. Polygamy was 
done away with in 1893, in order that Utah might be 
admitted to the Union. 

Theosophy: There seems to be no evidence of polygamy. 
Such as may have been practiced, if any, has been secret. 

POSITION OF WOMEN 

Christianity: The only religion that gives women a place of 
esteem and respect and love. 

Mohammedanism: Very low position. Can be divorced at 
husband's will. "Duty is implicit obedience, and reveren- 
tial silence in his presence." 

Brahmanism: Originally gave women a high place, but to-day 
she is a slave to her husband. She is never allowed to show 
her face to any but her husband. Widows must consecrate 
selves to Krishna and become inmates of temples conse- 
crated to this god, the life being that of women in our 
"red-light" districts. Women are merely race perpetuators. 

Buddhism: Very degraded position. Womanhood is regarded 
as penalty for sins committed in a previous life. Her only 
hope of salvation is to be reborn a man. 

Confucianism: Low position. Woman is tolerated because 
she is necessary to continuance of the race. 

Egyptian Religion: Women held a lowly place, but were not 
degraded. Polygamy was not so general nor so vile as in 
Oriental lands. 

Parseeism: Marriage is sacred, polygamy forbidden except 
among a few wealthy. The wife is socially equal to her 
husband and is mistress of her home. 

359 



A BRIEF COMPARISON 

Shintoism: Before coming of Buddhism, women held a much 
higher place than now. Women are now enslaved, though 
their morals are not bad as a rule. 

Taoism: Polygamy has degraded woman. Girl babies are un- 
welcome. Foot binding is endorsed. Women are slaves 
to their husbands. 

Teutonic Religion: Women held a secondary position and 
were bought and sold like cattle. They were subject to 
polygamy. 

Mormonism: Men were completely masters of their women 
during the time of polgyamy. Woman was a sort of chattel 
or personal property, with no voice in proceedings. Her 
position, until the forced remedy by United States laws, was 
very subservient and degraded. 

Theosophy: The women of Theosophy in civilized nations 
hold as high a place as the women of the Christian re- 
ligion. 



360 



Bibliography 



Encyclopedia Britannica. 
Encyclopedia Americana. 
Theosophy and New Thought. — H. C. Sheldon. 
A Fourfold Test of Mormonism. — H. C. Sheldon. 
Christianity and Non-Christian Religions Compared. — 
E. A. Marshall. 

Handbook of Comparative Religion. — S. H. Kellogg. 

Faiths of Mankind. — Soper. 

The Real Mormonism. — Webb. 

Mormonism. — Bruce Kinney. 

The Women of Mormonism. — Froiseth. 

Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics. — Hastings. 

Confucianism and Taoism. — Douglas. 

Ten Great Religions. — Clarke. 

Laymen's Missionary Library, 

Religions of Eastern Asia. — Underwood. 

Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge. — Schaff and Herzog. 

WORKS CONSULTED BY THE STUDENTS IN MAKING 
THEIR COMPARISON 

Works by the following authors are in English, and may be 
found in most public libraries. The author regards them, in 
the main, as helpful and reliable: 

Adam, James Hartman, L. O. 

Barth, A. Hastings, James 

Barton, Geo. A. Hilprecht, H. V. 

Brinton, D. G. Hopkins, E. W. 

Burrell, D. J. Grant, G. M. 

Clark, James F. Groot, J. J. M. 

Davids, T. W. Rhys Jackson, U. V. W. 

Douglas, R. K. Jastrow, Morris 

Ellinwood, F. F. Jordan, L. H. 

Fradenburg, J. N. Johnson, Samuel 

Frazier, J. G. Kellogg, S. H. 

361 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 



Keary, C. F. 

Legge, James 

Maurice, F. D. 

Mencius and Confucius 

Menzie, Allen 

Moore, Geo. F. 

Moulton, J. H. 

Miiller, Max 

Pfieiderer, Otto 

Randall, J. H. 

Rawlinson's Ancient Egypt 

Reid, J. M. 

Religious Systems of the 

World 
Renouf, P. L. P. 



Reville, Albert 

Rogers, Robert W. 

Ross, John 

Saussaye, P. D. C. 

Sayce, A. H. 

Sacred Books of the East 

Sheldon, H. C. 

Smith, J. G. 

Soper, E. D. 

Tiele, C. P. 

Toy, H. C. 

Trever, Geo. H. 

Williams, Monier 

Wilson, H. H. 

Wherry, E. M. 



362 



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